Luanda - Angolan President João Lourenço Friday spoke of the need to enable Angola and other African countries to acquire Covid-19 vaccine with their own resources, stating that there are "enormous difficulties" to access this market.
João Lourenço, quoted by the Portuguese News Agency “Lusa”, acknowledged that Angola and, in general, the African continent, have benefited from the solidarity of the countries with greater capacity, especially in the production and purchase of vaccines, which they have, via the Covax initiative, or bilaterally , donated vaccines.
In a virtual and recorded debate with his Portuguese counterpart, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, as part of the Euro-Africa Forum, João lourenço defended the need of this solidarity to go beyond.
"The solidarity shown so far has been restricted to the donation of vaccines, which is insufficient. We mean that another form of expression of solidarity needs to be open up to our countries, with our resources, to acquire the vaccines we need. That aspect is failing," he stressed.
We, stressed João Lourenço, are having enormous difficulties in accessing the vaccine market.
He said he did not expect help in terms of creating, now, the capacity for the production of vaccines, as it is a process that takes some time, admitting, therefore, that, if it happens, "it will certainly not be for this pandemic, but perhaps for other future ones".
"What we want is to open up to us the possibility, in addition to what we have been receiving free of charge, to acquire with our resources the vaccines that should have been available on the market", he noted.
The president pledged Angola’s availability to buy Covid-19 vaccine, stressing that the country has installed a large cooling capacity necessary for the conservation of immunisers.
"We have installed a good capacity for testing throughout the country, but above all a good cold capacity for the conservation of vaccines", he said, assuring that Angola can conserve vaccines either in the conservation modality, in freezing or even deep-freezing.
He put the country’s storage capacity at around 70 million doses of vaccines, concentrated mainly in Luanda, but added that they can easily be placed anywhere in the country.
"Therefore, in terms of logistics, we are not bad", concluded the Angolan President, in the debate with his Portuguese counterpart, held in digital format, which was the highlight of the 4th edition of the Euro-Africa Forum, held since Wednesday, in an initiative of the Portuguese Diaspora Council, a Portuguese global network founded in 2012 and whose main objective is to enhance the brand, image and reputation of Portugal.
