The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) says Africa will need more skills to establish a mRNA technologies hub on the continent.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has selected South Africa to be the host of this project that is aimed at boosting Africa’s vaccine manufacturing abilities.
According to the organisation, the establishment of the hub could see South Africa producing vaccines in the next nine to 12 months.
President Ramaphosa participates in a joint briefing on COVID-19 vaccines:
SAMRC Vice-President, Professor Jeffrey Mphahlele, says this is very significant for the continent.
“Africa will be able to make RNA vaccines eventually. I can’t put the timeline to this, we hope within a year or two years we should be able to see vaccines coming out of the consortium using this technology,” he says.
“But [it] is the latest technology that one can use to make vaccines. Most of viral vaccines are in the market they rely on the viral protein,” explains Mphahlele.
Establishment of the first mRNA technology transfer hub in SA:
