
EAC Secretary General calls for equitable global access to vaccines to rebuild from the Covid-19 Pandemic at the UN General Assembly
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 24th September, 2021: The East African Community (EAC) Secretary General, Hon. Dr. Peter Mathuki, has called for concerted efforts towards equitable global access to vaccines and support in investment to enable production of vaccines in developing nations.
Speaking on the sidelines of High-Level debates at the 76th UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, USA, Dr. Mathuki supported the call by EAC leaders to waive intellectual property rights to allow more countries, particularly low- and middle-income countries, to produce COVID-19 vaccines.
“Intellectual property rights and export restrictions need to be lifted to allow vaccine production within the African continent. A region that is not vaccinated is a source of propagating new variants of the Covid-19 virus,” said Dr. Mathuki.