WHO: 6 African countries to get own mRNA vaccine production

The World Health Organization has announced that six African countries will be given the revolutionary mRNA technology to set up their own vaccine production centres helping the continent acquire self-reliance against the Covid pandemic. Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia will get the technology used in the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna jabs developed in Europe. The Senegalese president said the aim was to have 60% of vaccines administered in Africa produced in Africa as well. In the future, the new African vaccine hub might also produce jabs for diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV. A ceremony marking the mRNA technology transfer will be held later in Brussels at a summit between the European Union and the African Union.

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, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. 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, he said. Dr Tedros made this announcement at the European Union - African Union summit in Brussels on Friday.

The revolutionary mRNA technology teaches the body’s own cells how to make a protein that triggers an immune response, without using any viral material. In the case of COVID-19, it produces a harmless piece of the spike protein, alerting the body to defend itself from the virus. The global mRNA technology transfer hub was established in South Africa last year to support low and middle-income countries in manufacturing their own mRNA vaccines – with the required operating procedures and know-how to meet international standards.