South Africa opens vaccine production facility
South Africa is moving forward with plans to produce mRNA vaccines at a facility in Cape Town, where leaders including Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization were on hand for a ribbon-cutting at the technology hub facility launched by biotech firm Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines.
Afrigen has successfully established a COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing process and is scaling it up, said WHO in a statement. The first vaccine batches will be used in clinical trials as Afrigen continues with training and technology transfer.
South African officials say their plans to produce COVID-19 vaccines are just the beginning. Blade Nzimande, the minister for Higher Education and Science, said new treatments and prevention for malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS might develop from the same technologies that evolve from the partnerships with Afrigen.
Tedros highlighted how the pandemic served to drive a commitment to equity in both the access and manufacture of vaccines in low- and middle-income countries (LICs). Even now, 69.7% of the global population had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while the level remained below 30% in LICs, according to March 2023 data.
The advances celebrated in South Africa, where the vaccine effort was first announced in 2021, will help to close the gap. “I am immensely proud of the achievement of all those involved in this project; in less than two years we have shown that when we work collaboratively, we succeed collectively,” said Tedros.
Total funding for the project is US$117 million to date, with representatives from donor nation France and counterparts from Belgium, Germany, Norway and Canada on hand. Also present were African Union and European Union leaders, as well as project partners from Biovac and the Medicines Patent Pool.
Image: Medicines Patent Pool
Laureen Fagan
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Laureen is a freelance journalist creating high-quality, informed content on international affairs, politics and technology. She has worked both in and out of newsrooms since 2000. She is a former paramedic with significant experience in community resilience and nonprofit community development initiatives, and maintains "a passion for action" on sustainability and climate change. She also is trained in conflict resolution and diversity, and has special interests in science and medical reporting, and culture and religion issues. Laureen received her MSJ from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in the United States, and completed additional graduate study in theology at University of Notre Dame. Follow Laureen on Mastodon at @laureen@m.ai6yr.org
