The UN health Agency over the weekend announced that Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia will receive the technology needed to produce mRNA vaccines.
The announcement was made at a ceremony hosted by the European Council, France, South Africa and WHO at the AU-EU summit in Brussels.
The global mRNA technology transfer hub was established in 2021 to support manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries.
It will now support the six African countries to produce their own vaccines according to international standards.
Primarily set up to address the COVID-19 emergency, the hub has the potential to expand manufacturing capacity for other products including medicines.
“This is an initiative that will allow us to make our own vaccines and that, to us, is very important,” said Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa.
“It means mutual respect, mutual recognition of what we can all bring to the party, investment in our economies, infrastructure investment and, in many ways, giving back to the continent,” he added.
The WHO and partners will work with the beneficiary countries to develop a roadmap and put in place the necessary training and support so that they can start producing vaccines as soon as possible, said the UN Agency.
MG/abj/APA