AU special envoy criticizes EU's COVID-19 vaccine pass, dose-sharing

The European Union’s exclusion of Covishield from its just-launched vaccine pass is “not the only problem” that the African Union has with the bloc, according to an AU special envoy. Speaking at a weekly press briefing for the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Strive Masiyiwa also had sharp words over the lack of COVID-19 doses getting to Africa from European manufacturers.

“The EU has vaccine factories; it has vaccine production centers across Europe. Not a single dose, not one vial has left a European factory for Africa,” said Masiyiwa, who is also the head of the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team.

“When we’ve gone to talk to their manufacturers, they tell us that they are completely maxed out meeting the needs of Europe.”

“We are referred to India,” he said, though those who’ve received Indian-manufactured Covishield do not currently qualify under the rules of the European green pass.

Why it matters: People who have received Covishield, the main COVID-19 vaccine distributed by COVAX, may not be eligible for the EU digital travel pass until the vaccine gets approval from the European Medicines Agency.

“They finance COVAX,” Masiyiwa said. “So how do we get to a situation where … they give money to COVAX who go to India to purchase vaccines, and then they tell us that those vaccines are not valid?”

What’s next: Masiyiwa urged the EU to open up production facilities to allow African countries to purchase vaccines, adding that the continent is not asking for donations.

“Europe has to decide. You can't say you support us,” he said. “They’ve vaccinated so many of their own people that they can now watch football without masks.”