South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilda to the capital Pretoria, lauded the European country for its assistance to Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ramaphosa emphasized the role played by Belgium in backing the World Health Organization’s mRNA technology transfer hub initiative established in South Africa to improve Africa’s access to vaccines and therapeutics.
“I wish to express our appreciation to the kingdom of Belgium for its role in the global fight against COVID-19. Belgium is an important donor to the vaccine alliance GAVI, for the operation of COVAX, the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access initiative,” said Ramaphosa at a press briefing with the Belgian king on Thursday.
He added that Belgium had donated about 10 million doses of vaccines during the pandemic, with a significant proportion going to African countries in need of vaccines.
Ramaphosa praised the collaboration between South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics firm
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