The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced €100 million in humanitarian assistance to support the rollout of vaccination campaigns against the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria and other countries in Africa, which are spearheaded by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
The EU Chief said this at the G7 meeting on Friday, stressing that subject to the agreement of the budgetary authority, this funding will support the vaccination campaigns in countries with critical humanitarian needs and fragile health systems.
"The funding will, among others, contribute to ensuring the cold chains, roll-out registration programmes, training of medical and support staff as well as logistics. This sum comes on top of €2.2 billion provided by Team Europe to COVAX," he said.
Ursula von der Leyen added: "We've always been clear that the pandemic won't end until everyone is protected globally. The EU stands ready to support the vaccination strategies in our African partners with experts and deliveries of medical supplies at the request of the African Union. We are also exploring potential support to boost local production capacities of vaccines under licensing arrangements in Africa. This would be the fastest way to ramp up production everywhere to the benefit of those that most need it."
Janez Lenar?i?, Commissioner for Crisis Management, said: "International vaccine solidarity is a must if we are to effectively address the COVID-19 pandemic. We are looking at ways to use our humanitarian aid and civil protection tools to help in the rollout of vaccination campaigns in Africa. Ensuring equitable access to vaccines for vulnerable people, including in hard-to-access areas, is a moral duty. We will build on our valuable experience in delivering humanitarian aid in a challenging environment, for example via the Humanitarian Air Bridge flights."
Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, added: "Team Europe has stood by the side of our African partners from the onset of the pandemic and will continue to do so. We have already mobilised more than €8 billion to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.
We are strengthening health systems and preparedness capacities, which is absolutely key to ensure effective vaccination campaigns. And we are now exploring support through the new NDICI and how to leverage investments in the local production capacities through the External Action Guarantee."
Thank the European Union for its vaccine assistance. But we cannot let our guard down. Happiness is achieved by our own hands.