“Nobody is safe until everyone is safe.” A test of solidarity or the catalyst for Europe and Africa to do things differently?

Europe and Africa need to work together to overcome vaccine inequalities that risk prolonging global pandemic misery, speakers at an Africa Europe Foundation online debate insisted Thursday.

“There is a call for collective action, to improve global solidarity, to address the structural violence in global health, the structural inequalities,” (5:14) Agnes Binagwaho, Co-Chair of the Africa Europe Foundation Strategy Group on Health and Vice Chancellor and co-founder of the University of Global Health Equity, told the meeting.

“Governments that are pushing for vaccine nationalism are wrong because … the world is developing variants that will rush back to all countries,” (5:55) she warned. “We may reach a point where the privileged minority that are vaccinated … will no longer be protected because of the delay of solidarity in vaccinating across the world.” (6:44)

Binagwaho, a former Health Minister of Rwanda, joined Gunilla Carlsson, Co-Chair of the Africa Europe Foundation Strategy Group on Health and Vice-Chair of the Strategy Committee of the Global Fund, in debating the issue with a wide range of stakeholders from Africa and Europe.

The discussion is part of the ‘Talking Africa EU series’ that promotes a ‘whole of society’ approach, allowing key stakeholders from both continents to share perspectives on the future of the relationship.

Carlsson agreed Europe needs to ‘step up’ its efforts to end a ‘terrible injustice’ surrounding the unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. She referred to calls for an Intellectual Property (IP) waiver at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which could free up developing nations to produce more vaccines.

“I hope that Europe could be more wise when it comes to the suggested IP waiver at the WTO,” (15:12) Carlsson said. “Even more, we should engage with the whole value chain around health and to coordinate with the Africa Union leadership … to make sure that pandemic preparedness, that resilience, is something that is part of the broader political debate.”

India and South Africa have led appeals for IP waivers to boost production and end what World Health Organisation head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has denounced as ‘vaccine apartheid’.

US President Joe Biden has backed the waiver idea, but the European Union is reticent. It says boosting current production and lifting export restrictions would be a more effective way of getting more vaccines to more people.

Binagwaho dismissed concern that Africa lacks the capacity to develop effective vaccine production, storage and distribution.

“Lack of capacity is not a problem,” (38:26) she asserted. “We can manage distribution of vaccine and there are enough skills on the continent to do it … I have no problem, except to get the authorisation to start.”

Failure to get vaccines to people in need was a ‘crime against humanity’, Binagwaho said.

Participants answered a number of poll questions on the vaccine rollout, with 90% saying Africa should be manufacturing its own vaccines and a majority agreeing that the continent should aim to be a global leader in vaccine production by 2040.

Europe needs to have confidence that Africa can meet the vaccine challenge, Binagwaho affirmed.

“I don’t want us to make any excuse to not start now,” (53:17) she said. “Everything will be in place before the first machine rolls out for producing the first vaccine on African soil … Trust Africa.”