African Union sets in motion plan to manufacture 60 percent of vaccines in Africa
Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) – The African Union (AU) has unveiled a roadmap towards manufacturing at least 60 percent of all mandatory human vaccines in Africa as well as local production of chemicals used to diagnose diseases, including HIV/AIDS, officials from its scientific organ said Tuesday.
The African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director, John Nkengasong, said the local production of the vaccines would start with the manufacturing of the coronavirus vaccines to ramp up the vaccination of more people to guard against possible outbreaks of new variants of the virus.
Speaking during a meeting convened in Kigali, Rwanda, to update stakeholders on the progress towards the local manufacturing of vaccines in Africa, Nkengasong said it is regrettable that none of the chemicals used to diagnose diseases in Africa are locally produced.
The Africa CDC announced the formation of a vaccine task team to develop a roadmap for the local manufacturing of the vaccines in Africa.
During the meeting in Kigali, the AU announced that it plans to facilitate the local manufacture of at least 60 percent of mandatory human vaccines in Africa by 2040.
On 26 October, Senegal and Rwanda announced the signing of an agreement with the German firm, BioNTech, which developed the Pfizer, BioNTech vaccine for the Coronavirus disease, to facilitate the local production of the vaccines.
The facility would ensure the local manufacture of the mRNA vaccines, which use the new technology in which portions of the non-pathogenic virus are used to develop a vaccine that ignites a protection mechanism against it, preventing the development of serious disease in case of contact.
The AU is working to build capacity in the local infrastructure to produce most of the pharmaceutical products it required to save its population from the outbreak and spread of future and current pandemics.
Nkengasong said while only 7 percent of the Africa population had been immunized against the coronavirus pandemic, the continent is required to immunize 70 per cent to avoid an outbreak of new variants of the disease whose impact on the population is still unknown.
“We do not know which other variants would emerge without the vaccinations,” Nkengasong said during a meeting, officially opened by President Paul Kagame, and attended virtually by other African heads of state and government and their representatives.
Nkengasong said the local manufacturing of the chemicals used to diagnose viral diseases should also be manufactured by local companies.
The African experts said every container of the vaccines arriving in Africa also meant job losses and the export of critical resources from Africa to other regions.
Under its plan, the Africa CDC has defined an eight-point plan, which it hopes would enable the development of vaccines locally.
The plan includes the pooling of resources to ensure common purchasing of vaccine manufacturing ingredients, access to finance, a mechanism to facilitate the transfer of technology used in the development of the vaccines.
Through the soon-to-be established African Medicines Agency, the AU CDC also plans to ensure proper regulation of the vaccine development process.
The AU would lead campaigns for access to intellectual property rights in the utilisation of the available vaccine development technologies.
The AU would also facilitate the development of research and development mechanisms to promote the vaccine manufacturing infrastructure.
-0- PANA AO/VAO 7Dec2021
