WHO announces first six Africa mRNA vaccine technology recipients
Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal,
South Africa and Tunisia all applied and have been selected as recipients.
The announcement was made at a
ceremony hosted by the European Council, France, South Africa and WHO in the
presence of President Emmanuel Macron of France; President Cyril Ramaphosa of
South Africa; President of the European Council, Charles Michel; and President
of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The global mRNA technology
transfer hub was established in 2021 to support manufacturers in low-and-middle-income
countries to produce their own vaccines, ensuring that they have all the
necessary operating procedures and know-how to manufacture mRNA vaccines at
scale and according to international standards.
Primarily set up to address the
COVID-19 emergency, the hub has the potential to expand manufacturing capacity
for other products as well, putting countries in the driver’s seat when it
comes to the kinds of vaccines and other products they need to address their
health priorities.
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Depending on the infrastructure,
workforce and clinical research and regulatory capacity in place, WHO and
partners will work with the beneficiary countries to develop a roadmap and put
in place the necessary training and support so that they can start producing
vaccines as soon as possible.
Speaking at the occasion,
Ghebreyesus, said, “No other event like the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that
reliance on a few companies to supply global public goods is limiting and
dangerous. In the mid- to-long-term, the best way to address health emergencies
and reach universal health coverage is to significantly increase the capacity
of all regions to manufacture the health products they need with equitable
access as their primary endpoint.”
"This is an initiative that
will allow us to make our own vaccines and that to us is very important. It
means mutual respect, mutual recognition of what we can all bring to the party,
investment in our economies, infrastructure investment and, in many ways,
giving back to the continent," Ramaphosa reacted.
Also speaking, Macron said, “Improved
public health benefits and supporting African health sovereignty and economic
development are the principal goals of strengthening local production in
Africa. In an interconnected world, we need stronger and new partnerships
between countries, development partners and other stakeholders to empower
regions and countries to fend for themselves during crises and in peace time.”
“We need to create an environment
where every scientist, health worker and government can band together for a
common cause; working together to build new solutions to protect what is most
precious - our health and our lives," Michel said.
To ensure that all countries
build the necessary capacity to produce their own vaccines and other health
technologies, WHO has been working to establish a biomanufacturing workforce
training hub that will train people from all interested countries in scientific
and clinical research and production capacity.
The training hub will be
announced in the coming weeks.
In addition, WHO’s current
regulatory strengthening activities in low- and middle-income countries will
expand through a global benchmarking tool that assesses countries’ ability to
ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of health products and provides
training where improvements are needed to build regulatory authorities that are
agile and fit-for-purpose for the future.
The WHO mRNA technology transfer
hub is part of a larger effort aimed at empowering low- and middle-income
countries to produce their own vaccines, medicines and diagnostics to address
health emergencies and reach universal health coverage.
The initial effort is centred on
mRNA technologies and biologicals which are important for vaccine manufacturing
and can also be used for other products such as insulin to treat diabetes,
cancer medicines and, potentially, vaccines for other priority diseases such as
malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.
The ultimate goal is to extend
capacity building for national and regional production to all health
technologies.
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