Today marks the launch of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, a significant initiative aiming to invest at least $1 billion over the next decade to ensure a robust vaccine supply against major diseases worldwide.
Recent reports of the first death from laboratory-confirmed H5N2 bird flu and the ongoing spread of H5N1 in animals serve as stark reminders that new infectious threats are inevitable. The question is not if, but when and where, the next outbreak will occur. As leaders in global health and sustainable development, we understand the profound impact infectious disease outbreaks can have on health, well-being, and economic prosperity, especially for the most vulnerable populations.
Ongoing negotiations for an international pandemic accord are essential, but we must also continue taking concrete steps—at national, institutional, and multilateral levels—to improve our preparedness, prevention, and response to outbreaks and other public health emergencies.
Since 2005, the World Health Organization has declared seven public health emergencies of international concern, all due to infectious disease outbreaks. Except for the 2015-2016 Zika virus epidemic, vaccines have been crucial in controlling these emergencies. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the devastating consequences of delayed vaccine availability, with each day without an effective vaccine costing lives and livelihoods.
This is why France and Team Europe, the African Union via the Africa Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, are collaborating with other stakeholders to establish mechanisms for rapid and equitable access to safe and effective vaccines during outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics.
Achieving rapid and equitable vaccine access during public health emergencies requires two key elements: sufficient financing that can be quickly mobilized and an adequate vaccine supply.
Gavi already supports vaccine stockpiles for diseases like yellow fever, cholera, meningitis, and Ebola, and works to ensure a stable and sustainable vaccine supply to meet anticipated demand. However, what happens when demand exceeds supply?
The COVID-19 pandemic exemplified the issue of demand outstripping supply, with vaccine access inequities worsened by the concentration of manufacturing capacity in a few regions. International partners, including WHO, Gavi, the European Union, and France, established COVAX, a unique vaccine solidarity mechanism, through which Gavi delivered 2 billion doses. Yet, COVAX was not a cure-all, and vaccine inequity was acutely felt in Africa—a continent that produces only 0.1% of the world’s vaccines but accounts for nearly 20% of the global population.
In response, we have developed the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA), an innovative solution to stimulate investment across Africa’s vaccine value chain. AVMA aims to invest at least $1 billion over the next 10 years to enhance global vaccine supply security against key diseases.
AVMA offers incentives to boost the supply of critical vaccines, such as those for cholera, yellow fever, and Ebola, while encouraging investments in manufacturing capacities that can be quickly adapted to produce vaccines against emerging pandemic threats. It does this by providing initial lump-sum payments and time-limited “accelerator payments” to manufacturers with prequalified priority vaccines.
Creating a sustainable African vaccine manufacturing ecosystem will require a multistakeholder effort and significant political will.
Ultimately, AVMA will support the African Union’s goal to produce 60% of the vaccines used in Africa by 2040 and potentially foster the growth of a high-value, high-skill, and high-wage sector in the economy.
AVMA is a key component of Africa CDC’s Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing Framework for Action, which aims to establish a strong and sustainable vaccine manufacturing ecosystem. This framework includes training the necessary workforce, enhancing research and development, supporting African National Regulatory Authorities, addressing raw material supply chain issues, and creating an African Pooled Procurement Mechanism.
AVMA and other initiatives, such as the $2.5 billion Day Zero Financing Facility, are part of a comprehensive strategy to strengthen global and regional vaccine supply chains. Building a sustainable African vaccine manufacturing ecosystem will be a long-term endeavor, requiring a true multistakeholder effort and substantial political will to ensure that demand for African vaccines supports African production.
As global leaders convene in Paris today for the Global Forum for Vaccine Innovation and Sovereignty, AVMA will be launched alongside Gavi’s investment opportunity for the alliance’s next strategic period through 2030. The message is clear: investing in the vaccine alliance is an investment in a more equitable, inclusive, and coherent global health emergency preparedness and response architecture. It is an investment in one of the most effective public health solutions: vaccination. It is an investment in our future.
Recent reports of the first death from laboratory-confirmed H5N2 bird flu and the ongoing spread of H5N1 in animals serve as stark reminders that new infectious threats are inevitable. The question is not if, but when and where, the next outbreak will occur. As leaders in global health and sustainable development, we understand the profound impact infectious disease outbreaks can have on health, well-being, and economic prosperity, especially for the most vulnerable populations.
Ongoing negotiations for an international pandemic accord are essential, but we must also continue taking concrete steps—at national, institutional, and multilateral levels—to improve our preparedness, prevention, and response to outbreaks and other public health emergencies.
Since 2005, the World Health Organization has declared seven public health emergencies of international concern, all due to infectious disease outbreaks. Except for the 2015-2016 Zika virus epidemic, vaccines have been crucial in controlling these emergencies. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the devastating consequences of delayed vaccine availability, with each day without an effective vaccine costing lives and livelihoods.
This is why France and Team Europe, the African Union via the Africa Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, are collaborating with other stakeholders to establish mechanisms for rapid and equitable access to safe and effective vaccines during outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics.
Achieving rapid and equitable vaccine access during public health emergencies requires two key elements: sufficient financing that can be quickly mobilized and an adequate vaccine supply.
Gavi already supports vaccine stockpiles for diseases like yellow fever, cholera, meningitis, and Ebola, and works to ensure a stable and sustainable vaccine supply to meet anticipated demand. However, what happens when demand exceeds supply?
The COVID-19 pandemic exemplified the issue of demand outstripping supply, with vaccine access inequities worsened by the concentration of manufacturing capacity in a few regions. International partners, including WHO, Gavi, the European Union, and France, established COVAX, a unique vaccine solidarity mechanism, through which Gavi delivered 2 billion doses. Yet, COVAX was not a cure-all, and vaccine inequity was acutely felt in Africa—a continent that produces only 0.1% of the world’s vaccines but accounts for nearly 20% of the global population.
In response, we have developed the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA), an innovative solution to stimulate investment across Africa’s vaccine value chain. AVMA aims to invest at least $1 billion over the next 10 years to enhance global vaccine supply security against key diseases.
AVMA offers incentives to boost the supply of critical vaccines, such as those for cholera, yellow fever, and Ebola, while encouraging investments in manufacturing capacities that can be quickly adapted to produce vaccines against emerging pandemic threats. It does this by providing initial lump-sum payments and time-limited “accelerator payments” to manufacturers with prequalified priority vaccines.
Creating a sustainable African vaccine manufacturing ecosystem will require a multistakeholder effort and significant political will.
Ultimately, AVMA will support the African Union’s goal to produce 60% of the vaccines used in Africa by 2040 and potentially foster the growth of a high-value, high-skill, and high-wage sector in the economy.
AVMA is a key component of Africa CDC’s Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing Framework for Action, which aims to establish a strong and sustainable vaccine manufacturing ecosystem. This framework includes training the necessary workforce, enhancing research and development, supporting African National Regulatory Authorities, addressing raw material supply chain issues, and creating an African Pooled Procurement Mechanism.
AVMA and other initiatives, such as the $2.5 billion Day Zero Financing Facility, are part of a comprehensive strategy to strengthen global and regional vaccine supply chains. Building a sustainable African vaccine manufacturing ecosystem will be a long-term endeavor, requiring a true multistakeholder effort and substantial political will to ensure that demand for African vaccines supports African production.
As global leaders convene in Paris today for the Global Forum for Vaccine Innovation and Sovereignty, AVMA will be launched alongside Gavi’s investment opportunity for the alliance’s next strategic period through 2030. The message is clear: investing in the vaccine alliance is an investment in a more equitable, inclusive, and coherent global health emergency preparedness and response architecture. It is an investment in one of the most effective public health solutions: vaccination. It is an investment in our future.