The French President also pledged to donate more than 30 million doses of vaccine to COVAX supported by the United Nations by the end of the year.

President Emmanuel Macron stated that France will invest in promoting the production of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa in order to narrow the gap between vaccine injections in Africa and Western countries.

Macron said at a joint press conference held in Pretoria and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday that Africa accounts for about 20% of the world’s vaccine demand, but only 1% of vaccine production.

Macron said: “We are in favor of trying to remove barriers to produce vaccines in South Africa and throughout Africa.”

“But what are the problems we have to overcome? What we need to do is get vaccinated as soon as possible and get as many vaccinations as possible. This is a question of responsibility and solidarity,” he said.

Macron said: “The more time it takes, the more likely the virus will mutate and spread again.” He added that richer countries should provide excessive doses to poorer countries as soon as possible.

He pledged that France will donate more than 30 million doses of vaccine to France by the end of this year COVAX supported by the United Nations Global vaccine plan.

The President said that France has established a partnership with South Africa’s Biovac Institute and will soon start a project with South African pharmaceutical company Aspen.

He reiterated his support for abandoning intellectuals property For the COVID-19 vaccine, this move was also supported by US President Joe Biden, but was opposed by Germany.

Vaccination rates in sub-Saharan Africa are lagging behind the rest of the world-less than two percent of the population in Africa has been vaccinated six months after the start of the operation.

This month Ramaphosa sounded what he called a “vaccine quarantine” between rich and poor countries.

Pharmaceutical company Object to exemptionSaid that this may weaken the momentum of future research and development.

They also pointed out that the production of vaccines requires proprietary technology and technical resources, which are not available at the time of conversion.

Macron’s approach is to promote technology transfer so that production bases in poor countries can be realized.

Macron’s aides said the industry is “highly concentrated in the United States, Europe, Asia and a small part of Latin America”. “Today there are very few vaccines against COVID-19 produced in Africa, and the most significant is that there is no vaccine currently.”

According to official statistics, South Africa is the most industrialized economy on the African continent and the economy hit hardest by COVID.

The country has recorded 1.6 million of the 4.7 million infections in Africa, accounting for more than 40% of its nearly 130,000 deaths.