Africa calls for local production of Covid-19 vaccines
AU envoy Strive Masiyiwa was speaking a day after Pfizer and BioNTech announced a “fill and finish” deal with South Africa’s Biovac Institute, under which it will carry out the final stages of vaccine manufacturing where the product is processed and put into vials.Pfizer and BioNTech will handle drug substance production at their facilities in Europe. Doctors Without Borders has called the arrangement “restrictive”, and said much more was needed to support vaccine independence in Africa.
Africa, which is battling a third wave of infections, has administered just 60 million vaccine doses in a population of 1.3 billion due to restrictions on shipments from vaccine producing nations like India. Matshidiso Moeti, the head of the World Health Organisation in Africa, called for local production of vaccines so that Africa can tackle future outbreaks.Matshidiso Moeti, the head of the World Health Organisation in Africa
J&J is on track to supply members of the AU with 400 million vaccine doses by September next year, Masiyiwa said.
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