Prof. Shabir A. Madhi, professor of vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Dr. Michael Owusu, a clinical microbiologist and a lecturer at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, discuss Africa’s critical role in the global efforts to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. Topics include the current status and safety of clinical trials of vaccines; how vaccines are developed and distributed; the policy and regulatory requirements for development, registration, access and use of vaccines; the safety and efficacy of vaccines; the role of public sentiment in accepting or rejecting a COVID vaccine; and political will and its impact on vaccine access on the continent. Dr. Mercy Korir, a health journalist and editor with The Standard Group in Kenya, moderates the discussion.
