Visiting South Africa, France's Macron pledges vaccine help

On a visit to South Africa, French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed his country will provide millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to help African countries speed up their inoculation drives

JOHANNESBURG -- On a visit to South Africa, French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed that his country will provide millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to help African countries speed up their inoculation drives. Macron pledged that France will help South Africa and other African countries to develop the capacity to produce their own vaccines to fight the pandemic. Macron met President Cyril Ramaphosa in the capital, Pretoria, on Friday and said he supports lifting the barriers preventing Africa from producing its own vaccines, but he said the immediate priority is to increase the supply of vaccines to Africa. “Trying to lift the hurdles in order to allow vaccine production in South Africa and all of Africa, we are in favor of that," said Macron at a press conference with Ramaphosa.