25 January 2021 - Wits University
South Africa has the legal tools to challenge the vaccine nationalism of rich countries.
International and national legal frameworks could enable the government to ensure generic Covid-19 vaccines are manufactured locally and in other developing countries, particularly in Africa.
The latter point is important as South Africa, through its chairing of the African Union (AU) and its interventions at the United Nations, has emphasised a solidarity-based approach to the use of vaccines to combat Covid-19. This approach has been sought by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO).