President Paul Kagame on Tuesday, February 7, met with the chair of International Vaccine Institute (IVI) Board of Trustees, George Bickerstaff, who is in Rwanda to explore potential areas of collaboration in bio-manufacturing.

Bickerstaff alongside his visiting team, including the IVI Director General, Jerome Kim, have been in Kigali for the past two days.

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According to the office of the President, discussions centered around vaccine research and development.

Prior to meeting with the head of state, the team also met with officials from the Ministry of Health.

Bickerstaff and his team visit Rwanda a few months after the country was welcomed as the newest member of the IVI, an organization which aims to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health.

At the time, Rwanda joined 38 other countries and the World Health Organization as member states of IVI.

Global collaboration, vaccine availability and equity, as well as strong vaccination campaigns are key to ending the pandemic while preserving effective routine immunization programs across all continents, according to experts.

And to reach that goal, there is a need to support each country to invest in human capacity, health systems, and infrastructure.

This can be achieved through the support of partners such as Gavi, UNICEF, IVI, among others.