While in many countries vaccines for the global pandemic Covid-19 are rotting away in storage facilities, Africa remains underserved, with just over six per cent of her population vaccinated. This is despite the struggle to secure timely access to adequate supplies for the vital vaccines through multiple approaches like the Covax Facility – through which governments pooled resources for collective purchasing of the vaccines – bilateral deals, among other arrangements. The silver lining from this unfortunate situation is that it has given the impetus for African countries to accelerate the efforts to manufacture vaccines from within the continent. It is not just vaccines for Covid-19, but for other diseases. And the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as well as the promise of greater harmonization of markets offered by the African Medicines Agency (AMA) and regional economic communities, seems to be helping. As it stands, Africa locally produces less than one percent of the vaccines consumed on the continent, and aims to increase the figure to 60 percent in the next 20 years. But how achievable are these targets? “The power of partnership is central,” said John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). Nkengasong said this on Monday, December 6 during a continental meeting currently underway in Kigali to review the progress made on implementing the partnerships for vaccine manufacturing in Africa. “The way we shall fight the next pandemic on the continent will be different from the way we are fighting this pandemic because of the progress that we are making in the vaccine production,” he added. According to the virologist, expanding vaccine manufacturing in Africa is a complex undertaking, requiring several factors to align. But he observed that the nascent industry needs widespread collaboration among abroad range of stakeholders. His argument is based on the reality that Africa has the highest incidence of mortality caused by infectious diseases, and does not have the capacity to manufacture vaccines that are essential to reduce mortality, improving life expectancy, and promoting economic growth. Nkengasong also said that the joint initiative comes at a time there are at least five African countries that manufacture vaccines at different levels. “But the African continent, a continent of 1.2 billion people and 55 member states, still imports 99% of its vaccines and consumes 25% of global vaccine supply. You cannot guarantee the health security of your people by importing 99% of your vaccines. “It comes down to basic supply and demand: If you produce vaccines, there must be somebody who buys the vaccines from you. We need to reshape the market.” Research and Development Achieving this means incentivising research and development (R&D) and vaccine production in partnership with national governments, Nkengasong reiterated. Estimates suggest that Africa’s existing vaccine market is worth $1.3 billion, and that is expected to grow to about $2.4 billion by 2030. “So there is an enormous market for vaccines. Our two biggest challenges are financing and human capital.” World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared similar sentiments, stressing that with the outbreak of the new variant, Omicron, the situation is set to become even more acute in the future. “The persistent inequity in access to vaccines and emergence of Omicron Variant show why the world needs more widespread regionally-based vaccine production.” He added, “One of the biggest challenges is increasing the supply of skilled workforce with training in bio manufacturing.” The WHO boss, who shared his remarks to the Kigali meeting virtually, pointed out that; “It is not just about Covid-19. There will always be such experiences. That is why vaccine production is very significant.” Economic opportunity For Wamkele Keabetswe Mene, the Secretary General of the AfCFTA, there is great economic opportunity in Africa producing its own pharmaceutical products because, currently, the continent spends $16billion on importing pharmaceutical products annually. “The regulatory institutions of Africa can now leverage the AfCFTA to build the continent’s research and development capacity, harmonize regulations in drug registration and ensure compliance with best practice and international standards.” Why Africa’s medicine agency is key While presiding over the launch of the meeting, President Paul Kagame applauded the progress made towards establishing the African Medicines Agency (AMA), saying that it was crucial in strengthening national medical products regulatory systems. AMA is a specialised agency of the African Union (AU) intended to facilitate the harmonisation of medical products regulation throughout the AU in order to improve access to quality, safe and efficacious medical products on the continent. According to Michel Sidibe, Africa Union Special Envoy for the agency, Africa represents 18 percent of the world population with 25 percent of disease burden, one percent of vaccine produced and less than 3 percent of the medicine consumed. “We needed to break down this dependency, we can’t do it if we don’t reinforce our Regulatory systems.” Asserted Sidibe Rwanda on the map Rwanda is set to become one of the vaccine hubs, as part of the Africa CDC’s efforts to build five manufacturing facilities on the continent. Global Biotechnology Company recently decided to construct Africa’s first mRNA facilities in the country, and another in Senegal, citing her infrastructure readiness as a major ingredient. The 17 candidates shortlisted by Africa CDC for its five facilities include those which, despite having no existing activities, have engaged with international manufacturers or shown strong political support to build capacity. “Among them, Rwanda is a standout”, reads the latest report by fDi intelligence. “The government is investing in its health regulator and it has a clear vaccine manufacturing plan”. According to the report the country is ‘very close’ to being recognised as ‘ML3’ — the minimum WHO accreditation needed to oversee vaccine manufacturing. Rwanda has so far fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 pandemic 40 per cent of her population.
