Osinbajo charges Europe to make COVID-19 vaccine available to Africa

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday appealed to Europe to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccine was available to Nigeria and other African countries when finally deployed.

He said Nigeria lacked the resources to pre-pay for the vaccine.

Osinbajo, who made the call at the virtual 2020 EURAFRICA Forum, added that the vaccine should not be made available on the basis of the highest bidder but at affordable and accessible manner.

He said: “Although Nigeria does not have the resources or means to pre-pay for a COVID-19 vaccine, we are fortunate to be a GAVI supported country. We urge the EU to lend support to GAVI’s effort to ensure equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX initiative.

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“This way, poorer countries, and their citizens will get the vaccines that they need at the same time as the rest of the world.

“Europe should work closely with Africa to ensure that when a vaccine is finally deployed, it should not be on the basis of the highest bidder but rather be made available in an affordable and accessible manner.

“This is a matter that should not be taken for granted. We saw during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in richer parts of the world, that orders for test kits and reagents by African countries were deemed too small and tended to be ignored.”

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