Africa imports 99 percent of its vaccines. During Covid-19, that dependency ended in spectacle: in 2022, Kenya incinerated 840,000 expired doses days after televising their arrival, even as it struggled with supply bottlenecks, short shelf lives and uneven uptake. It was a stark symbol of Africa’s marginal place in the global health order.
Four years on, the humiliation of vaccine apartheid, as wealthy nations hoarded supplies while African states scrambled for access, has hardened into ambition: to manufacture vaccines at home.
