The Political Economy of Global Vaccine Nationalism: Towards Building Agency for Africa's Drug Manufacturing Capacity

Since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic in early 2020, several countries have moved from non-pharmaceutical interventions in combatting the Covid-19 pandemic to developing vaccine acquisition strategies. Many developed countries adopted strategies to secure and stockpile vaccines. Pharmaceutical firms used their bargaining power to negotiate steep vaccine prices in developing nations. Vaccine nationalism and the predatory behavior of pharmaceutical firms make the case for temporarily lifting intellectual property protections a morally compelling one. African countries must work together to build vaccine manufacturing capacity through scientific cooperation, development of human capital, and nurturing of value chains.