Africa-EU after COVID-19 : let’s start with vaccines : [conversation between José Manuel Barroso and Giorgia Giovannetti]

Abstract

Although Africa has managed to resist COVID-19 remarkably well, the economic consequences have been disastrous. For the first time after 25 years of continuous economic growth, Africa is facing a recession. COVID-19 has also led to increased protectionism and a delay in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement. Furthermore, COVID-19 may be here to stay and could be the first of a series of “new infections” in a highly interconnected world. Considering Sub Saharan African countries’ economic structure, rapid urbanization, and often unreliable health infrastructures, and accounting for the fact that health security is a global public good, it is particularly important to have rapid and equitable access to vaccines. In many countries, health systems need to be strengthened and logistical capacity for vaccinations should be created. This panel will discuss these issues with a particular focus on policies to mitigate health, economic and social effects of the COVID-19 crisis, the global public goods nature of health security, the difficulties of planning a large-scale immunization, vaccination campaigns and prioritization and logistics.