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Thu 20 Apr 2023:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has formally opened its mRNA vaccine technology centre in Cape Town, which was built during the COVID-19 pandemic to assist poorer countries with gaining access to life-saving drugs.
The WHO selected South African biotech firm Afrigen Biologics for a pilot project in 2021 to provide low- and middle-income nations with the know-how and licenses to manufacture COVID vaccines. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hailed it a significant milestone at the time.
My remarks on @WHO mRNA Technology Transfer Programme https://t.co/kL3UmKddow
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 20, 2023
Afrigen Biologics has used the publicly available sequence of Moderna Inc’s mRNA COVID vaccine to make its own version of the shot, AfriVac 2121, at lab scale and is now scaling up production.
The vaccine candidate, which must still be tested on people, is the first to be made based on a widely used vaccine without the assistance and approval of the developer. It is also the first mRNA vaccine designed, developed and produced at lab scale on the African continent.
https://t.co/qGcgH8e5BW#COVID19
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) April 20, 2023
“I am … here in Cape Town with our partners to support a sustainable model for mRNA technology transfer to give low- and middle-income countries equitable access to vaccines and other lifesaving health products,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement on Thursday, the day the vaccine hub was launched.
After multinational pharmaceutical giants like as Moderna and Pfizer declined to contribute the technological know-how to replicate their vaccines, citing intellectual property issues, the hub chose to pursue the vaccine on its own.
The five-day visit by Tedros and senior health authorities will include conversations about the program’s sustainability, the science of mRNA technologies, and their potential use in combating other diseases that disproportionately impact poorer countries, such as HIV and tuberculosis.
As of March, the WHO reported that 70% of the global population had gotten at least one dose of a COVID vaccination, but that proportion was still less than 30% in low-income countries.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
source:CAPE TOWN’S MRNA VACCINE TECH HUB IS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED BY WHO (independentpress.cc)
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