South Africa Reaches Deal With India To Boost Domestic Vaccine Production
The Serum Institute of
India signed a deal this week with South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare to make four
vaccines used in Africa.
The deal has been
hailed as saving local vaccine production, which was at risk of shutting down
after receiving no orders for a COVID vaccine. But medical aid group Doctors
Without Borders says more efforts are needed for vaccines to be fully produced
in Africa for Africans.
Four routine pediatric
vaccines — pneumococcal vaccine, rotavirus vaccine, polyvalent meningococcal
vaccine and hexavalent vaccine — will be made in South Africa with products
from bulk drug substances supplied by India's Serum Institute.
In addition to the
10-year agreement, South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare also anticipates receiving
grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Coalition
for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, CEPI.
"The partnership
represents an important step for preventing the kinds of gross inequities of
access to life-saving vaccines that emerged during the COVID pandemic,"
said CEPI's chief executive officer, Richard Hatchett. "We are proud to be
part of an effort that will secure critically needed vaccine manufacturing
capacity in Africa, for Africa so that it can be ready when it faces future
epidemic or pandemic threats."
But Candice Sehoma with
Doctors Without Borders' Access Campaign in South Africa is calling for more
than just fill-and-finish deals.
"I think it's a
great step towards realizing the improvements in the African continent's
manufacturing capacity, particularly looking at vaccines. And actually looking
into routine vaccines. I think that, for me, is a great step," Sehoma
said. "But I think, definitely, we could do with a lot more and even a
full sharing of technology, so that we don't find ourselves waiting in line for
vaccines that are coming from high-income countries."
Petro Terblanche,
managing director of the South African company Afrigen, which reproduced
Moderna's MRNA COVID vaccine, says Aspen's deal with the Serum Institute may
not be healthy for other companies on the continent, as it could drown out
local competition.
"So, the
manufacturing capacity and the technology capabilities and the reach of the
Serum Institute is very dominant, it is very, very powerful. However, if Serum
Institute is prepared to do partnerships with Africa and South Africa for
end-to-end manufacturing and technology transfer to Africa, it's a positive
development," Terblanche said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ahmed
Ogwell Ouma, deputy director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention, says the agreement is an important step for African vaccine
manufacturing.
"It has responded
to African Union heads of state and government calls that 30 percent of our
continent's requirements for human vaccines be procured from Africa
manufacturers. And we look forward to this being motivation for more expanded
manufacturing of vaccines here on the continent of Africa," Ouma said.
According to the Africa
CDC, less than 1% of vaccines currently used on the continent are locally
manufactured.
Aspen's Group
Communications Consultant Shauneen Beukes says they cannot comment on calls for
the full African production of vaccines at this stage.
VOA
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