It is the first mRNA vaccine designed, developed and produced at lab scale on the African continent.
Boxes containing the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine are prepared for shipping at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, US December 20 2020.SA's Afrigen Biologics has used the publicly available sequence of Moderna's mRNA Covid-19 vaccine to make its own version of the shot, which could be tested in humans before the end of this year, Afrigen's top executive said on Thursday.
The WHO and consortium partners hope their technology transfer hub will help overcome inequalities between rich and poor countries in accessing vaccines. About 99% of Africa's vaccines against all diseases are imported and the negligible remainder manufactured locally.Biovac, a partly state-owned SA vaccine producer, will be the first recipient of the technology from the hub. Afrigen has agreed to help train companies in Argentina and Brazil.
"We haven't copied Moderna, we've developed our own processes because Moderna didn't give us any technology," Petro Terblanche, managing director at Afrigen, told Reuters.
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