WHO to establish Covid mRNA vaccine hub in South Africa
The first Covid mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub is being set up in Africa by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners within Covax.
WHO and Covax are working with a consortium of South African organisations including Biovac, Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, a network of universities and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to set up the hub.
Technology transfer hubs enable manufacturers to receive training and any necessary licenses to the technology. WHO and partners will bring in the production know-how, quality control and necessary licenses to a single entity to facilitate a broad and rapid technology transfer to multiple recipients.
Biovac and Afrigen will provide development and manufacturing work for mRNA vaccines for Covid-19, whilst the universities will provide mRNA-know-how, with Africa CDC offering technical and regional support.
On 16 April, the WHO proposed that Covid mRNA vaccine technology transfer hubs should be established in order to scale up production and access to Covid vaccines.
Over the coming weeks, the partners will negotiate details with the Government of South Africa and public and private partners inside the country and from around the world.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the full extent of the vaccine gap between developed and developing economies, and how that gap can severely undermine global health security. This landmark initiative is a major advance in the international effort to build vaccine development and manufacturing capacity that will put Africa on a path to self determination. South Africa welcomes the opportunity to host a vaccine technology transfer hub and to build on the capacity and expertise that already exists on the continent to contribute to this effort.”
“This is great news, particularly for Africa, which has the least access to vaccines,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of local production to address health emergencies, strengthen regional health security and expand sustainable access to health products.”
The announcement follows the recent visit to South Africa by the President of France, Mr Emmanuel Macron, who said his country was committed to supporting efforts in Africa to scale up local manufacturing capacity of Covid-19 vaccines and other medical solutions.
“Today is a great day for Africa. It is also a great day for all those who work towards a more equitable access to health products. I am proud for Biovac and our South African partners to have been selected by WHO, as France has been supporting them for years,” said President Macron. “This initiative is the first of a long list to come, that we will keep supporting, with our partners, united in the belief that acting for global public goods is the fight of the century and that it cannot wait.”
The WHO is now evaluating an additional 28 proposals to set up a hub or provide technology for mRNA vaccines. Out of these 28, 25 of the proposals are for low-and middle-income countries