Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Applause for Africa’s first vaccine technology transfer hub
THE World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had high praise for Africa’s first mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub during his visit to South Africa last week.
Tedros, who was accompanied by chief scientist at WHO Soumya Swaminathan and Belgian Minister of Development Co-operation Meryame Kitir, met with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and other senior officials to experience first hand the commitment to the initiative between the government and private sector, which includes support by South African consortium made up of Biovac, Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, a network of universities and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In a bid to solve a number of issues surrounding access to Covid-19 vaccines as well as vaccine availability on the continent and further abroad to other low-and middle-income countries across the globe, South Africa was chosen as the host to the vaccine technology transfer hub based on its available infrastructure, research platforms and its experience in technology transfer.
According to reports from Our World in Data, only 11.5% of people in Africa have been fully vaccinated, and around 62% of the world population has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Tedros said that if around 70% of the world’s population gets fully vaccinated, then the world could see an end to the “acute phase” of the pandemic.
“More than half the world’s population is now fully vaccinated. And yet, 84% of the population of Africa is yet to receive a single dose,” said Tedros.
“One of the most obvious lessons of the pandemic, therefore, is the urgent need to increase local production of vaccines, especially in lowand middle-income countries,” he said.
South Africa’s Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla, who joined Tedros during his visits to the technology transfer hub as well as to the Biomedical Research Institute based at Stellenbosch University’s Tygerberg Medical Campus, said the hub would play a pivotal role in ending vaccine inequality.
“The new hub is not just for South Africa. It provides a one-stop shop
for low-and middle-income countries across the world to benefit from the technology transferred, along with the know-how, so they can also produce mRNA vaccines,” Phaala said at a media briefing.
“We’re not out of the woods yet, and we are likely to be hit by new Covid-19 variants and a fifth wave that coincides with our winter season, which would compound our flu and cold season,” he said.
Phaala said that, in order to reduce the impact of the next wave of the virus, people need to ensure they are vaccinated, especially the most vulnerable groups.
Tedros and the South African ministers later joined the Western Cape government’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Vaxi Taxi initiative in the community of Philippi.
The EMS Vaxi Taxi initiative repurposes public spaces and partners with communities in order to bridge the Covid-19 vaccination gap.
“EMS’ Vaxi Taxi team have enabled (at least) 8 131 individuals within the province to receive their vaccines, hassle-free,” said EMS spokesperson Deanna February.
“The delegation praised the Western Cape, in particular the EMS officials, for running successful mobile vaccination outreaches and making it easier for people to access life-saving vaccines where they live,” she said.
After his visit, Tedros attended the Covid-19 Global Action Meeting, where he urged the nations present on their continued alignment with the Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator and the African Vaccine Acquisition (AVAT).
He further requested their assistance to “vaccinate the world” by supporting the WHO’s global target of 70% and for the contribution to their fair share to fully fund the ACT Accelerator.
“We need to support models such as the mRNA technology transfer hub in South Africa and its network of spokes around the world, to build capacity for controlling Covid-19 and other preventable diseases,” Tedros said at the meeting.
“As I mentioned, I have just witnessed the collaborative work being done at the Hub and by the vaccine developers participating in this historic effort,” he said.
Tedros added that fostering local vaccine manufacturing capacity throughout the globe, which is supplemented by temporary intellectual property waivers for Covid-19 tools, will help bring this pandemic to an end.