Push to boost SA vaccine production

A NEW consortium, including the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), are working to boost vaccine production in South Africa.

The organisations have signed a letter of intent to address the global imbalance of manufacturing capacity for Covid-19 vaccines. This follows WHO’s announcement in June of the first Covid-19 mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa, and the government announcement last month that the Cape Town-based Biovac has been appointed to manufacture the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for distribution within the AU.

The letter of intent sets out the terms of the collaboration and responsibilities between the organisations.

“Inequitable manufacturing and distribution of vaccines is behind the wave of death, which is now sweeping across many low and middle-income countries, that have been starved of vaccine supply,” said WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan.

“Building vaccine manufacturing capacity in South Africa is the first step in a broader effort to boost local production, to address health emergencies and strengthen regional health security,” added Swaminathan.

The new collaboration brings together key actors from Covax partners, industry, government, academia and funding agencies.

Afrigen, a biotechnology company incorporated in South Africa, established the first adjuvant formulation laboratory in Africa and has a pipeline of vaccines in development.

“We have recently completed a facility suitable for the establishment of a fully integrated mRNA pilot scale production, formulation and fill finish platform,” said managing director of Afrigen Professor Petro Terblanche.

The SAMRC said their domain will be facilitating product and clinical development to bring new products to market, allowing maximum participation of African countries in developing and testing context appropriate products.