{"id":192829,"date":"2021-06-22T10:33:07","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T08:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/sa-to-become-africas-first-vaccine-manufacturing-hub\/"},"modified":"2021-06-22T10:33:07","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T08:33:07","slug":"sa-to-become-africas-first-vaccine-manufacturing-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/sa-to-become-africas-first-vaccine-manufacturing-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"SA to become Africa\u2019s first vaccine manufacturing hub"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is working with South Africa to establish the continent\u2019s first COVID mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub.<\/p>\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday hailed the move as a landmark initiative.<\/p>\n

The President believes that this will see huge advancement in the international effort to build vaccine development and manufacturing capacity that will put Africa on a path to self-determination.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The technology transfer hub will pave a way for African companies to begin manufacturing mRNA vaccines.<\/p>\n

Messenger RNA, or mRNA technology, instructs cells to make a protein that generates an immune response in the body, producing antibodies that protect against disease.<\/p>\n

The mRNA is a key ingredient in the Pfizer\/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines used by governments worldwide.<\/p>\n

The WHO and partners will rope in the production expertise, quality control, and necessary license to a single entity to facilitate a broad and rapid technology transfer to multiple recipients.<\/p>\n

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, believes this was great news for Africa, which has the least access to vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID-19 has highlighted the importance of local production to address health emergencies, strengthen regional health security and expand sustainable access to health products.\u201d<\/p>\n

WHO will work with a South African consortium involving Biovac, which will act as developer, while Afrigen will act as the manufacturer of mRNA vaccines.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a network of universities will offer academic support and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will provide technical and regional support.<\/p>\n

President Ramaphosa believes that the ability to manufacture vaccines, medicine, and other health-related commodities will change the face of Africa. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis initiative and others will change the narrative of an Africa that is a centre of disease and poor development. We will create a narrative that celebrates our successes in reducing the burden of disease in advancing self-reliance and also advancing sustainable development.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the First Citizen, South Africa intends to work with the rest of the African countries to enhance regional trade and invest in science and innovation.<\/p>\n

Vaccine nationalism<\/strong><\/p>\n

The President took the chance to shine the spotlight on the unequal access to lifesaving vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cCountries of the north, with more developed economies now have vaccinated about 50% of their citizens and having lesser hospitalisation, while countries in the developing world are still struggling to access vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also called on an end to vaccine nationalism, as access to vaccines is inequitable. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not fair that some people because they come from rich countries, their lives are worth much more than lives in poor countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he said government was still determined to work towards the proposal put together by India and South Africa for the waiver of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), as Africa sees a rise in COVID-19 infections.<\/p>\n

At home, President Ramaphosa told the delegates that the country is in the midst of the third wave of infections, more severe than the previous one. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe only defence that we have is to have vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he believes that this hub was a firm foundation for the achievement of security for the world\u2019s most vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just cannot continue to rely on vaccines that are made outside of Africa because they never come or arrive on time and people continue to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pilot plant<\/strong><\/p>\n

WHO\u2019s Chief Scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, described this as a new model that brings together the public and private sectors, investment banks, academics, and regulatory agencies.<\/p>\n

She said the WHO would facilitate and coordinate this initiative and that the organisation hopes to look at different technologies as a next step.<\/p>\n

Swaminathan said there was already a pilot plant in South Africa. However, the organisation still needs to train the workforce and source raw material.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that situation, we could even expect to see between nine to 12 months vaccines being produced in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, trials and efficacy of safety may take longer, she added. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is working with South Africa to establish the continent\u2019s first COVID mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub. President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday hailed the move as a landmark initiative. The President believes that this will see huge advancement in the international effort to build vaccine development and manufacturing capacity that will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":192830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-192829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-sanews","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/sa-to-become-africas-first-vaccine-manufacturing-hub.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}