“Learned from the pandemic”
African countries produce mRNA vaccines
02/18/2022 2:42 p.m
So far, the production facilities for vaccines in Africa have been extremely manageable – and the consequences have been fatal. That should change now. Six African countries should also be able to produce mRNA vaccines in the future. EU Commission President von der Leyen finds big words.
Six African countries are to produce mRNA-based vaccines in the future. In South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia, vaccines against the corona virus and, in the medium term, also against other diseases are to be produced, as the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced in Brussels. “We learned from the pandemic that we need to improve production in lower-income countries,” Tedros said.
Only one percent of all vaccines used in Africa are currently manufactured on the continent, said the WHO chief. For months he had sharply criticized the fact that rich countries secured a large part of the corona vaccine production with preliminary contracts and that many countries went practically empty-handed for months. To date, more than 80 percent of Africans have not even received their first dose of vaccine, he said.
A laboratory in South Africa that is currently conducting clinical tests for an mRNA vaccine against the coronavirus opened last year. From there, the technology will be delivered license-free to low- and middle-income countries. The vaccine should be ready in 2023. According to the WHO, it does not infringe any patents. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has appealed to the international vaccine alliances Covax and Gavi to commit to buying the vaccine produced in Africa. He also reiterated his call for the patent right on the corona vaccine to be temporarily suspended.
In addition to corona vaccines, other medicines, such as insulin, cancer medicines or those against malaria, tuberculosis or HIV, should also be able to be produced in the countries based on mRNA technology. The federal government is supporting the center in South Africa with three million euros, as Development Minister Svenja Schulze said: “If we succeed in supplying the African continent with high-quality vaccines made in Africa, then that is good insurance against future pandemics and other diseases.”
“Symbol for a new partnership”
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke of a “symbol of a new partnership”. “It’s mRNA technology that is developed and produced in Africa and owned by Africa,” she said. With regard to the dispute over patent law, she advocated technology transfer and the obligation to license with severely restricted profits.
The German pharmaceutical company Biontech has already developed and manufactured turnkey mRNA production systems in a container design. According to the company, the Corona vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer and later also mRNA-based malaria and tuberculosis vaccines can be produced there. Construction of the first mRNA production facility in the African Union is scheduled to begin in the middle of the year. The first container module is scheduled to arrive in Africa in the second half of the year.
The summit of the African and European Unions in Brussels is about a renewed partnership between European and African states. The EU is planning investments in infrastructure, renewable energies and digitization of 150 billion euros over the next seven years. The two-day meeting was overshadowed by the planned withdrawal of international soldiers from Mali and the ongoing Ukraine crisis.