It's Time for Africa to Future-Proof Against Pandemics

According to the WHO Regional Office for Africa, African countries that have performed the best in vaccinating their populations against COVID-19 had finalized their national vaccine deployment plans before the first COVID-19 vaccines had arrived.

In a commentary published in the journal Nature on January 3, 2022, John N Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, called for African countries to increase investment in health and ultimately reconfigure their public health approach towards one of self-reliance.

One exception is the developers of Corbevax, a recombinant protein vaccine shown in unpublished phase 3 trials to be highly efficacious against symptomatic infection with the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain and the delta variant.

The vaccine was developed as a prototype with no patent by researchers in Houston, Texas, with the technology then transferred without payment to vaccine manufacturers in several countries, including Botswana.

Notably, the vaccine is based on the same low-cost technology as the hepatitis B vaccine that has been in use for 40 years.

This approach will provide gains not only for COVID-19 control but also for other endemic infectious diseases, such as yellow fever, polio, malaria, measles, and monkeypox.

The U.S. CDC publishes various Travel Advisories for disease outbreaks in Africa. A list of destinations is found on this CDC webpage.