South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says the COVID-19 pandemic has showcased Africa’s capabilities in science and in health response.
Speaking during the Africa Centre for Disease Control’s two-day conference on vaccine manufacturing, Ramaphosa said the talent and will is there, but resources are a challenge.
Ramaphosa says while the production of effective vaccines has provided hope for recovery, not all countries can share equally in the hope of having access to vaccines at the time they need them most. He says the challenge that many African countries face is that the supply of vaccines is currently too slow to meet their needs.
“Our immediate task therefore is to secure sufficient vaccine doses for African countries through the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, which has made valuable progress through its engagements with manufacturers. This effort is supported by other initiatives to manufacture vaccines on the continent, where possible, under license and in collaboration with current manufacturers. The Aspen facility in South Africa, for example, will make some 220 million doses available following AVATT’s agreement with Johnson & Johnson,” he adds.
Ramaphosa says Africa’s task now is to harness the continent’s capabilities, and to draw on the experience of the past year to build a vibrant and innovative African medical supplies manufacturing capability that meets the health needs of the continent’s people.
South Africa was one of the countries to identify a variant of the coronavirus and Africa is reporting the lowest numbers of infections and death as a region. The SA President, who is the African Union COVID-19 Champion, says setting up manufacturing capacity will aid the continent’s commitment to improving healthcare for its population.
“This means that in the medium term, we need to expand existing capabilities into regional hubs that serve the Continent as a whole. To do this, Africa needs to harness its own continental capabilities and identify opportunities for collaboration across several countries of the continent. We also need to forge sustainable partnerships with entities in both the developed world and the developing world,” he adds.
Hope for Africa’s vaccine production
The African Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC) says it would like to see Africa produce up to 60% of vaccines used on the continent.
Currently, the continent imports 99% of all vaccines, while managing to manufacture only 1%.
The urgency to expand vaccine manufacturing has been spurred on by COVID-19 and the lack of access to vaccination.
CDC Director, John Nkengasong, says the target for increasing capacity is the year 2040.
As at 15 March, 23.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been distributed across the continent.
Africa’s vaccine efforts are administered by the Covax facility, aimed to provide donor-funded vaccines to lower-income countries.
Live proceedings of the CDC’s two-day conference:
Below is a list of some of the COVID-19 vaccines distributed on the continent:
1. AstraZeneca
According to the Africa CDC, the AstraZeneca vaccine, allocated primarily by the Covax facility, accounts for 20.5 million (87%) doses and is the main vaccine used in Africa.
Countries that have received the vaccine include Morocco, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mozambique, eSwatini and Botswana.
Other countries include Mauritius, Seychelles, Mali, Cameroon, Sudan, Gambia and Nigeria.
In February, South Africa put the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on hold after data showed that it gave minimal protection against mild to moderate infection caused by the 501.V2 Variant.
The DRC, Mali and Cameroon have since put the use of the vaccine on hold following concerns in some European countries over its safety.
In the video below, President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Aspen facility to produce 30 million vaccine doses for SA in April:
2. Johnson & Johnson
South Africa is currently the only country in the continent administering the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine.
By the end of March, the country had secured an additional 30 million J&J vaccines.
On Monday, the drug-maker also announced a deal to secure the African Union with up to 400 doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by the third quarter of the year.
3. Moderna
In February, Rwanda started rolling out vaccinations to healthcare workers after it had secured around 1 000 doses of the Moderna jab.
4. Pfizer-BioNTech
Rwanda became the first African country to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine early in March, with over 100 000 doses delivered.
In mid-March, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) approved the emergency use application of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the drugmaker.
As seen in a Reuters report, SAHPRA said its approval was subject to further safety and efficacy surveillance and monitoring its efficacy against the dominant 501.V2 Variant.
South Africa’s government had ordered 200 million doses of the vaccine.
5. Sinopharm
China has donated its Sinopharm vaccine to Zimbabwe, Egypt, Equitorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Tunisia and Namibia.
Senegal also purchased doses of the vaccine from China, and made donations to neighbouring Gambia.
Seychelles has also received doses of the vaccine.
6. Sputnik V
Some of the experimental doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine have been donated to Guinea.
Nigeria and Algeria also received doses of the vaccine last month.
-Information gathered from the Africa CDC, Reuters and World Health Organisation
