Vaccines might be African economies' silver bullet

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far brought African economies almost to their knees, has seen many developing countries slip deeper and deeper into economic crisis.

Moreover, the drastic measures put in place by many governments, including lockdowns and curfews, have ended up putting their citizenry in a far worse position economically than before.

In Kenya, many owners of small and medium-sized enterprises complained of loss of business due to lockdowns and curfews, which cut off their clientele, especially during peak hours, leading to loss of income. Transit of goods and services almost came to a halt.

However, a new dawn of hope seems to have come with the advent of COVID-19 vaccines, which bring a glimpse of a brighter future. Kenya marked a milestone in its fight against COVID-19 when, on March 3, it received 1.02 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine as part of its allocation of 3.56 million doses from COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing initiative.

The drive by the government to vaccinate front-line personnel has created a lot of optimism and confidence in executing their jobs and a sense of safety that they are protecting their families as well as the whole community.

This year, therefore, has seen significant economic recovery across different sectors, although some sectors seem to need a longer path to recovery. People's confidence and the resumption of business activities amid the ongoing vaccine drive have seen a return of business and mobility, edging toward pre-pandemic levels. There is growing optimism and movement of people outside their perceived "safe havens" as vaccines become more widely available to the public.

Africa's growth performance and the outlook of the African Development Bank indicate that most economies in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to grow by 3.4 percent in 2021 after shrinking in 2020. This is greatly attributed to improved economic activities through resumption of tourism, a rebound in commodity prices and the easing of pandemic-induced restrictions.

However, the pace of economic recovery depends on the rate at which Africa gets its population fully vaccinated.

It is on this note that the African Union's COVID-19 Vaccine Acquisition Task Team set a continental goal of vaccinating at least 60 percent of Africa's population by allocating vaccines to AU member states, according to their population size, through a pooled procurement mechanism. This is a prerequisite to saving African lives and livelihoods, safely reopening economies and resuming Africa's economic development agenda. It is also in addition to the vaccines offered by the COVAX facility to AU members for up to 30 percent of the participating countries' populations.

The African Continental Free Trade Area established a platform for building a resilient and inclusive health system in Africa, with local production of vaccines, medicines and medical equipment, in order to boost the number of people who have been vaccinated. The continent's vaccination rate is now just 2.6 percent, with some countries yet to receive any vaccines as of June. The free trade area also aims, by reducing tariffs and harmonizing trade rules across the continent, to increase intra-African trade by 52.3 percent by 2022.

If the economic recovery rate observed in regions where more than 30 percent of the population has been vaccinated is anything to go by, the vaccines truly are a proverbial silver bullet against the economic woes precipitated by the pandemic in Africa.

The author is a business and finance consultant based in Nairobi. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.