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Herald Reporter
Zimbabwe and the rest of African countries can now start making pre-orders for Covid-19 vaccines on the Africa Medical Supplies Platform #AMSP,amsp.africa.

This follows the securing of 270 million doses by the African Union (AU) through the African Vaccines Acquisition Task Team (AVATT).

AU Chairman and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the development on January 14.

The Afreximbank will provide procurement commitment guarantees of up to US$2 billion to manufacturers and member States will then pay for their purchases using either their internal resources or an Afreximbank instalment payment facility of up to five years.

“The #AMSP single source platform enables faster, more transparent and cost effective access to #Covid19 supplies, and offers equitable access to the vaccines for the 55 member States of the African Union,” said the AMSP in a statement yesterday.

Zimbabwe’s Dr Strive Masiyiwa is a member of AVATT and is the AU Special Envoy for the mobilisation of test kits and personal protective equipment.

AMSP is a non-profit initiative launched by the AU as an immediate, integrated and practical response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The online platform was developed under the leadership of Dr Masiyiwa and powered by Janngo on behalf of the AU’s Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and in partnership with African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with the support of leading African and international Institutions, Foundations and Corporations as well as governments of China, Canada and France.