{"id":5959,"date":"2021-12-07T15:25:25","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T15:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets"},"modified":"2021-12-07T16:12:55","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T16:12:55","slug":"how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets","title":{"rendered":"How achievable are Africa\u2019s vaccine manufacturing targets?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>While in many countries vaccines for the global pandemic Covid-19 are rotting away in storage facilities, Africa remains underserved, with just over six per cent of her population vaccinated.<\/p>\n

This is despite the struggle to secure timely access to adequate supplies for the vital vaccines through multiple approaches like the Covax Facility \u2013 through which governments pooled resources for collective purchasing of the vaccines \u2013 bilateral deals, among other arrangements.<\/p>\n

The silver lining from this unfortunate situation is that it has given the impetus for African countries to accelerate the efforts to manufacture vaccines from within the continent. It is not just vaccines for Covid-19, but for other diseases.<\/p>\n

And the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as well as the promise of greater harmonization of markets offered by the African Medicines Agency (AMA) and regional economic communities, seems to be helping.<\/p>\n

As it stands, Africa locally produces less than one percent of the vaccines consumed on the continent, and aims to increase the figure to 60 percent in the next 20 years.<\/p>\n

But how achievable are these targets? \u201cThe power of partnership is central,\u201d said John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).<\/p>\n

Nkengasong said this on Monday, December 6 during a continental meeting currently underway in Kigali to review the progress made on implementing the partnerships for vaccine manufacturing in Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we shall fight the next pandemic on the continent will be different from the way we are fighting this pandemic because of the progress that we are making in the vaccine production,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

According to the virologist, expanding vaccine manufacturing in Africa is a complex undertaking, requiring several factors to align. But he observed that the nascent industry needs widespread collaboration among abroad range of stakeholders.<\/p>\n

His argument is based on the reality that Africa has the highest incidence of mortality caused by infectious diseases, and does not have the capacity to manufacture vaccines that are essential to reduce mortality, improving life expectancy, and promoting economic growth.<\/p>\n

Nkengasong also said that the joint initiative comes at a time there are at least five African countries that manufacture vaccines at different levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the African continent, a continent of 1.2 billion people and 55 member states, still imports 99% of its vaccines and consumes 25% of global vaccine supply. You cannot guarantee the health security of your people by importing 99% of your vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes down to basic supply and demand: If you produce vaccines, there must be somebody who buys the vaccines from you. We need to reshape the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research and Development<\/b><\/p>\n

Achieving this means incentivising research and development (R&D) and vaccine production in partnership with national governments, Nkengasong reiterated.<\/p>\n

Estimates suggest that Africa\u2019s existing vaccine market is worth $1.3 billion, and that is expected to grow to about $2.4 billion by 2030. \u201cSo there is an enormous market for vaccines. Our two biggest challenges are financing and human capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared similar sentiments, stressing that with the outbreak of the new variant, Omicron, the situation is set to become even more acute in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe persistent inequity in access to vaccines and emergence of Omicron Variant show why the world needs more widespread regionally-based vaccine production.\u201d He added, \u201cOne of the biggest challenges is increasing the supply of skilled workforce with training in bio manufacturing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The WHO boss, who shared his remarks to the Kigali meeting virtually, pointed out that; \u201cIt is not just about Covid-19. There will always be such experiences. That is why vaccine production is very significant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Economic opportunity<\/b><\/p>\n

For Wamkele Keabetswe Mene, the Secretary General of the AfCFTA, there is great economic opportunity in Africa producing its own pharmaceutical products because, currently, the continent spends $16billion on importing pharmaceutical products annually.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe regulatory institutions of Africa can now leverage the AfCFTA to build the continent\u2019s research and development capacity, harmonize regulations in drug registration and ensure compliance with best practice and international standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why Africa\u2019s medicine agency is key<\/b><\/p>\n

While presiding over the launch of the meeting, President Paul Kagame applauded the progress made towards establishing the African Medicines Agency (AMA), saying that it was crucial in strengthening national medical products regulatory systems.<\/p>\n

AMA is a specialised agency of the African Union (AU) intended to facilitate the harmonisation of medical products regulation throughout the AU in order to improve access to quality, safe and efficacious medical products on the continent.<\/p>\n

According to Michel Sidibe, Africa Union Special Envoy for the agency, Africa represents 18 percent of the world population with 25 percent of disease burden, one percent of vaccine produced and less than 3 percent of the medicine consumed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to break down this dependency, we can\u2019t do it if we don\u2019t reinforce our Regulatory systems.\u201d Asserted Sidibe<\/p>\n

Rwanda on the map<\/b><\/p>\n

Rwanda is set to become one of the vaccine hubs, as part of the Africa CDC\u2019s efforts to build five manufacturing facilities on the continent. Global Biotechnology Company recently decided to construct Africa\u2019s first mRNA facilities in the country, and another in Senegal, citing her infrastructure readiness as a major ingredient.<\/p>\n

The 17 candidates shortlisted by Africa CDC for its five facilities include those which, despite having no existing activities, have engaged with international manufacturers or shown strong political support to build capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong them, Rwanda is a standout\u201d, reads the latest report by fDi intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is investing in its health regulator and it has a clear vaccine manufacturing plan\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to the report the country is \u2018very close\u2019 to being recognised as \u2018ML3\u2019 \u2014 the minimum WHO accreditation needed to oversee vaccine manufacturing. Rwanda has so far fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 pandemic 40 per cent of her population.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. While in many countries vaccines for the global pandemic Covid-19 are rotting away in storage facilities, Africa remains underserved, with just over six per cent of her population vaccinated. This is despite the struggle to secure timely access to adequate supplies for the vital vaccines through multiple approaches like the Covax Facility […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":5958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,761,28],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-5959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nHow achievable are Africa\u2019s vaccine manufacturing targets? - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While in many countries vaccines for the global pandemic Covid-19 are rotting away in storage facilities, Africa remains ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How achievable are Africa\u2019s vaccine manufacturing targets?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While in many countries vaccines for the global pandemic Covid-19 are rotting away in storage facilities, Africa remains ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-07T15:25:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-07T16:12:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/12\/img-61af87f061700.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"847\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"491\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"How achievable are Africa\u2019s vaccine manufacturing targets?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-07T15:25:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-07T16:12:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets\"},\"wordCount\":976,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/12\/img-61af87f061700.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/how-achievable-are-africas-vaccine-manufacturing-targets\",\"name\":\"How achievable are Africa\u2019s vaccine manufacturing targets? 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