WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus
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Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus
As poor countries grapple with COVID-19 vaccine hoarding by rich countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced an initiative to help developing nations manufacture their own vaccines.
The WHO and its COVAX partners are working with a South African consortium to establish its first COVID mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub.
During a news conference on Monday, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus said the COVID-19 pandemic has shown it is dangerous to depend on a few manufacturers for vaccines.
"The inequitable access to vaccines has demonstrated that in a crisis, low income countries cannot rely on vaccine-producing countries to supply their needs," he said, pointing to similar issues in the fight against HIV as well as diabetes.
Dr. Tedros said, while the WHO continues to call for sharing of know-how and licences and waiving of intellectual property rights, it is moving to build production capacity in poor countries, through the technology transfer hub in South Africa.
He said the concept involves a company called Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, which will manufacture mRNA vaccines and provide training to a second manufacturer, Biovac. It is hoped the initiative will be expanded to provide training to more manufacturers in Africa and other parts of the world.
Not enough doses
The World Health Organization on Monday said a large number of poorer countries receiving COVID-19 vaccines through a global sharing scheme do not have enough doses to continue programmes.
WHO senior adviser Dr. Bruce Aylward said the COVAX programme had delivered 90 million doses to 131 countries.
But he said this was nowhere near enough to protect populations from a virus still spreading worldwide.
The shortages come as some nations in Africa see a third wave of infections.
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