The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the establishment of a hub in South Africa to provide know-how and licenses to companies in developing countries to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, in what President Cyril Ramaphosa has described as a historic step toward the spread of lifesaving technology.
According to the WHO, the “tech transfer hub” may enable African companies to begin producing mRNA vaccines — the sophisticated technology now employed in shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna – in as little as nine to twelve months.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the announcement aimed at boosting access to vaccines across the African continent, where coronavirus infections and deaths increased by almost 40 percent over the past week.
“Today I am delighted to announce that WHO is in discussions with a consortium of companies and institutions to establish a technology transfer hub in South Africa,” Tedros said during a press briefing in Geneva on Monday.
“The consortium involves a company Afrigen Biologics & Vaccines, which will act as the hub both by manufacturing mRNA vaccines itself & by providing training to a manufacturer Biovac,” he added.
Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO’s chief scientist, said many alternatives were being considered, mostly smaller companies and biotechs, adding, “We are also in discussions with larger mRNA companies and hope very much they will come on board.”
Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna are the primary manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines based on mRNA technology.
“We could see within nine to 12 months vaccines being produced in Africa, South Africa,” Swaminathan said.
