BOMRA approves manufacturing of COVID- 19 vaccine
Solicits support from global partners to ensure sustainability
President Mokgweetsi Masisi says Government through Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority ( BOMRA) has approved the manufacturing of Botswana’s first COVID- 19 vaccine.
This follows the decision by government to partner with NantWorks ( Nant- Botswana) to establish a vaccine manufacturing facility in the country.
He stated that the facility which was launched on 28th of March 2022 will be housed at the Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub’s Science and Technology Park.
The president said NantBotswana will manufacture and produce not only vaccines for COVID- 19, but also for cancer treatment and the next generation cell- based immunotherapy, among others.
Addressing the 75th session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva Switzerland, Masisi expressed confidence that the World Health Organisation ( WHO) and Partners will continue to support local and regional efforts in vaccine manufacturing, facilitate technology transfer and removal of intellectual property barriers.
“It is equally important for the WHO, GAVI, UNICEF and other Partners to commit to purchasing products developed in our region, which will ensure sustainability of the facilities.
“I also wish to implore the Assembly that we strengthen collaboration with CEPI and UNITAID to support local and regional manufacturing initiatives.
“Consistent with the national SmartBots Strategy that aims to drive national digitalisation agenda, we have also established innovative digital platforms that can actively participate in the global platforms with timely quality data to support health surveillance, research and security, together with our academic institutions,” Masisi said.
Masisi pointed out that given the collective goal to recover equitably from this pandemic, and in recognition of the constraints to preparedness and response to a global pandemic, Botswana fully supports the elaboration of an international legal instrument under the auspices of the WHO.
He explained that this new instrument should seek to build on the experiences and lessons learnt from the COVID- 19 pandemic, with special attention to addressing the needs and priorities of developing, least developed countries and countries facing humanitarian crises.
He indicated that the international legal instrument should therefore, address the need to access vaccines and therapeutics in a timely and equitable manner, including scaling up of national and regional manufacturing capacity through advancing and
acceleration of Research and Development, as well as mechanisms for facilitating technology transfer and removal of intellectual property barriers.
Masisi told the Assembly that there is also a need for “this instrument to have accountability mechanisms, including having regard to the WHO guidance in terms of travel and trade.
“You will recall that in November 2021, when Botswana and South Africa first identified and reported a new variant of SARS- CoV- 2, some Member States immediately imposed travel and flight restrictions on several Southern African countries.
“This was a very unfortunate knee- jerk reaction against us. The Treaty should therefore, seek to give incentive for timely and transparent reporting by reinforcing the obligations of Member States.
“It should also emphasise agreement on unbiased and evidence- based travel regulation that is anchored on the principles of solidarity, transparency, cooperation, inclusiveness and equity.”
The president told the gathering that the COVID- 19 pandemic has had a severe health and socio- economic impact, disproportionally affecting countries with the least capacity to respond and protect lives and livelihoods.
He said this is in addition to being faced with several issues including worsening poverty, humanitarian crisis, increasing geo- political instability and climate issues among others, which require our collective action and global solidarity.
“First and foremost, our collective experience from the COVID- 19 pandemic has exposed glaring inequities and inequality both within communities and between nations, with low and middleincome countries experiencing a disproportionate impact of the pandemic.
“Regrettably, there was lack of global solidarity particularly during the early period of the pandemic. This was evident both at the decisionmaking on medical products such as vaccines and personal protective wear, as well as resource allocation to combat the pandemic.”