Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has praised the World Health Organization for its decision to pick Egypt and five other countries in Africa to manufacture Covid vaccine in the continent to fight off the virus.
In his speech at the European Union — African Union Summit, he stressed Egypt’s ability to use this technology to ensure the continued availability of vaccines to his country and Africa.
The WHO on Friday announced that Egypt, Tunisia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa will be the first countries on the continent to obtain technology required to produce RNA vaccines. The technology-transfer project aims to help low- and middle-income countries.
“The (coronavirus) pandemic surprised the whole world, and therefore the move was to find a quick solution,” said El-Sisi. “Although it took some time, as we say in Africa, arriving late is better than not arriving at all.”
He praised the WHO’s efforts to enable Africa to overcome the negative health, economic and social effects of the pandemic. El-Sisi said Egypt is working on producing COVID-19 vaccines for local and continental use.
He urged international organizations and financial institutions to strengthen efforts to support African countries’ health sectors and international mechanisms related to distributing vaccines equitably.