The renewed partnership between the African Union and the European Union will address both the immediate prospects and challenges and the long-term opportunities offered by their cooperation. The first challenge is to ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines. The African Union and the European Union are committed to jointly supporting local and regional procurement mechanisms, as well as the allocation and deployment of medical products. The European Union reaffirms its determination to provide Africa with at least 450 million doses of vaccine, in coordination with the African Vaccine Procurement Task Force platform by mid-2022. By making more than 3 billion dollars (equivalent to 400 million doses of vaccine) available to the COVAX mechanism and to vaccination efforts on the African continent, Team Europe contributes to this objective and complements the actions of this special team. Team Europe will mobilize 425 million euros to accelerate the pace of vaccination and, in coordination with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), to support the effective distribution of doses and the training of medical teams, as well as to build analysis and sequencing capabilities. In this context, the African Union and the European Union will also contribute to the fight against disinformation concerning health topics.
Following the difficulties from the current health crisis, the African Union and the European Union are committed to supporting Africa’s full sovereignty in health, so that the continent is able to respond to future emergencies. of public health. To this end, they support a joint agenda for the manufacture of vaccines, medicines, diagnostics, treatments and health products in Africa, including investments in production capacities, voluntary technology transfers as well as strengthening the regulatory framework to enable equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and treatments. The African Union and the European Union stressed the urgent contribution of World Health Organisation to the fight against the pandemic and the recovery of the global economy, and pledged to cooperate constructively with a view to an agreement on a comprehensive WHO response to the pandemic, which includes aspects related to trade as well as intellectual property.
