EU Set to Return Millions of Covid19 Vaccines Produced in South Africa

• Millions of vaccines that were previously exported to European countries will be returned to South Africa in the upcoming months
• This comes after negotiations with President Cyril Ramaphosa and the European Commission identified the need in the African continent
• Aspen will continue manufacturing vaccines in South Africa that will be sent to African countries

Following a meeting between the president of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen and President Cyril Ramaphosa, the European Union has made a commitment to return millions of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines that were exported from South Africa.

Aspen Pharmacare's Strive Masiyiwa has also stated that the South African branch would no longer be sending coronavirus vaccines to Europe, according to a report by EWN.

The South African branch is currently under contract with the United States pharmaceutical company, Johnson & Johnson.

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This commitment comes after it was revealed that the African continent has been struggling with its vaccination programme to a shortage of vaccines. Europe now says it will return around 200 million vaccines by the end of the year.

This means that vaccines that are produced by Aspen in South Africa will be sent out to other African nations to help ramp up their Covid-19 vaccination programmes.

The contract between Aspen and Johnson & Johnson is largely the reason vaccines were being produced in South Africa and exported to European nations. This meant that South Africa had to relinquish its right to enforce Covid-19 vaccine export limitations, according to eNCA.

The contract has been changed to a licence agreement.

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Millions of Covid-19 vaccines produced in SA are reportedly being exported to Europe

Briefly News previously reported that reports have revealed that Johnson & Johnson has been exporting millions of Covid-19 vaccines for distribution in Europe. The vaccines are packaged and bottled in South Africa by manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare.

The New York Times revealed that it has seen export records from Aspen and the SA government. J&J reportedly agreed to sell a substantial amount of its single-shot vaccine to assist with inoculating one-third of Africa's population.

The fact that the vaccine is being produced by Aspen Pharmacare created hope that the doses will go to people on the continent, according to SABC News. The report by the well-known publication went on to explain that SA is also paying more for Covid-19 vaccines than countries in the European Union are.

The publication revealed that this is a major reason behind why less than 7% of the country's population is fully vaccinated and why the Delta variant is still ravaging South Africa.

Source: Briefly News