Closing due to a slump in orders: Africa’s Covid vaccine plant is threatened with closure
Africa’s first Covid-19 vaccine facility in Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth in South Africa, is threatened with closure. The reason is that the system has not received a single order. South African company Aspen Pharmacare negotiated a packaging and sales licensing deal for Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine in November. The agreement to sell an Aspenovax-branded vaccine across Africa seemed like a safe bet.
But “no orders have been received for Aspenovax,” Aspen director Stavros Nicolaou told Reuters. “If we are not receiving orders for vaccines, then there is no reason to continue with the production lines that are currently in place.” One wants to switch to the production of other vaccines in the long term. But the company wanted to establish operations with the first quantities of Aspenovax. If this gap is not bridged with orders, the production capacities in Africa cannot be maintained.
The African countries are struggling with logistical problems. There is also a lack of qualified personnel and the necessary cold chains for transporting the vaccines.
Legend:
Employees of the South African pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare are at Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine facility in Gqeberha, South Africa.
Reuters