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Africa’s first COVID-19 vaccine plant suffers low patronage as orders drop

Published

3 years ago

May 6, 2022

Africa’s first COVID-19 vaccine plant, Aspen Pharmacare located in South Africa, is on the verge of closing down following low patronage as orders have continued to drop drastically.

According to BBC Africa News, there is growing pressure on countries across Africa to buy Covid-19 vaccines from Aspen, the first company to produce the vaccines on the continent.

However, the company has issued a warning that it may have to stop producing Covid vaccines as countries have failed to place orders in recent months.

The deal which allowed Aspen to produce and sell Aspenovax was seen as an important step in helping to improve equal access to Covid vaccines.

But the head of the Africa’s leading public health body, the Africa CDC, is however, urging Covax, the international scheme which many African states rely on for Covid vaccines, to buy from the plant so as to keep it from going under, while
Aspen’s group senior executive, Stavros Nicolau, said Covax had not bought a single vaccine made in Africa.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, says he was working with counterparts in four African countries to try and save Aspen’s Covid vaccine production line.

But the head of the Africa CDC says that choosing to buy from Africa “is a political decision.”

In a statement defending its position, Covax said though it was “committed to diversifying global supply specially in Africa” but it argues that lack of demand means it is not in a position to buy large quantities of vaccines.

Related Topics:#COVID-19 Aspen Pharmacare Featured Vaccines

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Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery exports first fuel to Cameroon

Published

2 days ago

December 12, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Dangote Refinery in Nigeria said on Wednesday that it had exported its first petrol to Cameroon, marking a significant milestone that may help stabilise gasoline costs throughout the region and open the door for regional energy integration.

When fully operational, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote’s 650,000-barrel refinery in Lagos is intended to alter the trade of refined products in the Atlantic basin and compete with refineries in Europe.

According to a statement by Neptune Oil, an energy company based in Cameroon, both businesses were looking into new projects to create a dependable supply chain that would assist in stabilising fuel costs and opportunities throughout the area.

According to Neptune Oil, there were no middlemen involved in the petrol delivery deal.

It is anticipated that the refinery’s operations will spur growth in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors, increasing investments in cement manufacture, plastic and rubber production, chemical and pharmaceutical goods, and oil refining.

VenturesNow

Egypt’s November inflation drops to 25.5%, near 2-year low

Published

3 days ago

December 11, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to figures released Tuesday by statistics agency CAPMAS, Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation rate fell more than anticipated to 25.5% in November, the lowest level since December 2022.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused international investors to pull billions of dollars out of Egyptian treasury markets, inflation started to rise sharply in early 2022.

In September 2023, headline inflation reached a record high of 38.0%. It dropped to 26.5% by October 2024.

In a Reuters survey last month, 15 economists’ consensus prediction was for annual inflation to gradually decline to 26.4%.

According to CAPMAS statistics, headline inflation decreased from 1.1% in October to 0.5% in November every month.

Compared to October, when they fell 1.1%, food costs fell 2.8% over the month, making them 23.3% more than they were a year ago.

An increase in the money supply has been a major contributor to inflation. According to central bank data, Egypt’s M2 money supply increased by 29.54% in October compared to the same month last year.