AU to establish 5 Covid vaccine making centres
African Union (AU) has announced the launch of a partnership to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines at five research centres to be built on the continent in the next 15 years.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which helps run the global COVAX coronavirus vaccine-sharing programme with the public-private alliance Gavi and the World Health Organisation (WHO), signed a memorandum of understanding to boost African vaccine research and development as well as manufacturing.
As part of the expanded relationship, CEPI, the African Union, the Africa CDC will work to strengthen pandemic and outbreak preparedness in the continent, building on key lessons from the Covid-19 and the procurement and distribution of vaccines through COVAX and African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), established and endorsed by the AU Bureau of Heads of State and Government on August 20, 2020.
Early this year, a CEPI-funded vaccine programme initiated the first clinical trial of a Lassa Fever vaccine candidate to be conducted in West Africa, where the virus is endemic.
Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director John Nkengasong, the five centres will be located in the north, south, east, west and centre of Africa over the next 10-15 years.
“Trusted partnership will be critical in advancing the vaccine manufacturing agenda in the continent,” he said during a virtual meeting on Thursday.
“The partnership with CEPI symbolises cooperation and collaboration to help respond to infectious disease threats and ensure Africa’s health security,” he added.
The target is to produce locally within 20 years 60 per cent of all vaccines used on the continent-compared with one per cent today.
“We are aware that it is a challenge,” said Nkengasong, but added: “If Africa does not plan to address its vaccine security needs today, then we are absolutely setting ourselves for failure.”
According to WHO, Africa sits on the “sidelines” of the vaccination drive against Covid-19, with only two per cent of the world’s total vaccines administered on the continent.
CEPI Chief Executive Richard Hatchett said: “Together we can strengthen Africa’s capacity to prevent, detect and respond to emerging and re-emerging infectious threats.
“By building regional resilience and strengthening health security on the continent, we can mitigate the disproportionate health and economic impacts that epidemic infectious diseases can have on populations in low and middle-income countries.”
Current AU chair Felix Tshisekedi said “sufficient funds will be required, legislative harmonisation in Africa and incentives” as he called on the members of the diaspora “to help strengthen the medicine and vaccine production capacities in Africa”.
The project “will not just fight against Covid-19 but see the establishment of vaccine production for known illnesses and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics,” said Tshisekedi, who is also the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Africa has so far been the least-affected continent by the pandemic, with 4.3 million cases recorded, including 114,000 deaths in an overall population of 1.2 billion, according to WHO figures.
Raila Odinga, the African Union High Representative For infrastructure Development, lauded Africa producing its own vaccines in different places is a great step in the right direction.
“Climate Change is causing new and lethal diseases, so we need to act with speed. Kenya can easily be the pharmaceutical and biotechnology hub of East Africa,” Raila wrote Twitter on Thursday.
