Coronavirus Watch

THE African Union Commission has launched a new initiative, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Consortium for Covid-19 Vaccine Clinical Trial (CONCVACT).

CONCVACT is an outcome of the virtual conference on Africa’s Leadership Role in Covid19 Vaccine Development and Access held on June 24-25, 2020. The conference was hosted by Africa CDC and presided over by the chairperson of the African Union, H.E. President Cyril Ramaphosa and the chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat.

CONCVACT is being implemented as part of the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for Covid19 endorsed by African Ministers of Health on February 22, 2020 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and approved by the Bureau of the Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government on 26 March 2020.

Driven by the principles of cooperation, coordination, collaboration and communication, the strategy aims to prevent severe illness and deaths due to Covid-19 infection in African Union Member States, minimise social disruption, and mitigate the economic consequences of Covid-19.

Rolling out a vaccine in Africa is key to achieving all the three pillars of the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for Covid-19: limiting transmission, preventing deaths and laying the foundation for socio-economic recovery that should bring Africa’s integration agenda back on track.

CONCVACT aims to secure more than 10 late stage vaccine clinical trials as early as possible on the continent by bringing together global vaccine developers and funders, as well as African organisations that facilitate clinical trials. The goal is to ensure that sufficient data is generated on the safety and efficacy of the most promising vaccine candidates for the African population so they can be confidently rolled out in Africa once vaccines are approved.

CONCVACT will focus on dismantling the most critical barriers to clinical trials by:

1. establishing partnerships with leading vaccine developers to host select late-stage trial sites in Africa;

2. identifying countries and regions where opportunities to conduct trials are most promising (e.g. availability of strong local trial sponsors, good clinical practice investigators, access to granular epidemiologic data, support from regulatory bodies);

3. setting up an independent review board to provide guidance, assistance and oversight to clinical trials (e.g. regulatory, ethics, safety, etc.);

4. engaging with African and global media and key opinion leaders on the continent to increase public awareness of the need and importance of hosting well-regulated clinical trials in Africa;

5. providing objective, fact-based scientific guidance for interpreting the results of clinical trial data;

6. engaging global donors that are interested in investing in scaling-up vaccine distribution in Africa to raise sufficient funds to support the trials. — CDC