Some countries receiving vaccines through the United Nations sharing scheme, Covax, are running out of enough doses to continue vaccination programmes, the World Health Organization has warned.
Covax has delivered 90 million doses to 131 countries. A number that is not even close to the sufficient quantity to protect those populations, warns Bruce Aylward, WHO adviser. Insufficiencies that are highlighted in Africa, which is witnessing a third wave of infections.
On Monday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called on rich countries to stop the hoarding of vaccines. And he warned that across the African continent only 40 million doses have been administered – less than two per cent of the population.
Ramaphosa announced that the WHO is setting up a hub in South Africa to give companies in poor and developing countries the knowledge and licences to produce covid-19 vaccines. He called it a “historic step” in sharing life-saving technology.
The hub could enable African companies to produce vaccines with mRNA technology (used in Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines) within 9-12 months.
WHO has announced that two companies are already part of the system and negotiations are underway for Pfizer and Moderna to join.
“Through the initiative, we will change the narrative,” Ramaphosa said at the press conference announcing the programme.
WHO has long asked rich countries to share vaccine technology. The move to help African countries produce vaccines is especially urgent at a time when cases and deaths on the continent have increased by almost 40 percent in the past week.
“Today I am pleased to announce that WHO is in negotiations with a consortium of companies and institutions to establish a technology transfer centre in South Africa,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In a statement, WHO described the hub as a training facility, “where technology is deployed on an industrial scale and clinical development is carried out. Interested manufacturers from low- and middle-income countries can receive training and any necessary licences for the technology.”
The two South African companies already participating are Afrigen Biologics and Biovac.
WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said WHO is in negotiations with Pfizer and Moderna, which have produced vaccines widely used in rich countries using the new mRNA technology.
“We can expect to see vaccines in 9 to 12 months being produced in Africa, in South Africa,” Swaminathan said.
