No two-class vaccination for Africa!

Many people in African countries could be saved by safe EU-approved Covid vaccines like AstraZeneca. (Photo: M. Pauly/UEM)

The United Evangelical Mission (UEM) is strongly advocating for a more equitable distribution of vaccines worldwide to effectively combat the Covid pandemic. In light of recent German press coverage of Covax shipments of Covishield, a vaccine not licensed in the EU, to Africa, the international UEM communion, composed mostly of evangelical churches in Africa and Asia, shares concerns about a two-class vaccination system. Covishield is purchased cheaply by the EU in India and donated to African countries. The seemingly generous provision of a vaccine that should not be administered to any EU citizen is not only unethical in view of colonial history, but also unhelpful for a successful African vaccination strategy against ever new Covid-19 mutations, as it fuels the debate about the safety of the vaccine and thus promotes vaccination skepticism in the affected countries.

Removing patent protection for Covid vaccines

In an online discussion on global vaccine justice held by the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland and the Evangelical Church of Westphalia in May this year, Dr. Jean-Bosco Kambale Kahongya, a UEM co-worker in Tanzania, expressed the following suggestion: "Producing vaccine in Africa could be a good solution. Manufacturing on our own continent would also promote confidence in the vaccine." An important prerequisite for this would be the removal of patent protection for these vaccines, which has already been widely called for.

Asia and Africa bear the greater Corona burden

"It is hard to understand why people in Africa are not now being vaccinated with the same vaccines as we are here in Europe. When the pandemic broke out in the spring of 2020, many hygiene products were hard to come by in the countries of our African and Asian member churches. Not to mention emergency medical care for those who fell ill," said Volker Martin Dally, General Secretary of UEM. "In addition, hunger has returned to these countries. Many families lost their daily income due to the harsh lockdown and now live in poverty. Now these people are back in line for vaccination as well. We need to realize that Africa and Asia bear the greater Corona burden and act responsibly accordingly," adds Dally.

Since the onset of the Covid pandemic, the UEM has been supporting the measures of its member churches against the spread of the virus with the 1 million aid fund "United against Covid-19" and promoting projects that ensure basic supplies for people on the ground.

Martina Pauly (UEM spokesperson)