Africa’s vaccine ambitions.
8 AUGUST 2021 – Africa is a continent of 1.3 billion people, but only makes 1% of the lifesaving vaccines it needs. The continent’s 54 nations are almost entirely dependent on agencies like Unicef and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for these essential pharmaceuticals. But the pandemic of 2020 has been a harsh lesson in the dangers of relying on other countries and agencies for such crucial provisions.
COVID-19 third wave | Making vaccines in Africa.
2 JULY 2021 – Interview with AVMI Executive Director, Patrick Tippoo on Making Vaccines in Africa.
Buying and Accessing Vaccines.
21 JUNE 2021 – Lenias Hwenda talks to Patrick Tippoo, the Excecutive Director African Vaccine Manufacturers Initiative (AVMI) to explore Africa´s plans for manufacturing vaccines in order to protect the health security of people on the continent. Patrick Tippoo, a veteran who has spent 30 years developing vaccines at Biovac in South Africa highlights the opportunity to establish a viable vaccine production industry on the African continent, the challenges in realizing this ambition and shares some concrete actions that need to be taken to address existing challenges.
Dose of reality: What will it take to make mRNA vaccines in SA.
24 MAY 2021 – Messenger RNA vaccines have been hailed for their manufacturing advantages over conventional vaccines – so much so that African leaders such as President Cyril Ramaphosa have called for mRNA production capacity to be developed in Africa. Catherine Tomlinson examines why they are easier to make than some other types of vaccine and asks what it will take to build such production capacity.
Africa no longer wants to be dependent on imported vaccines. But the way forward is long.
17 MAY 2021 – African governments are pushing for more vaccines to be produced on the continent. But it takes more than the release of patents.
The lifting of patents on anti-Covid vaccines, an insufficient measure for Africa.
14 MAY 2021 – In the absence of vaccine production capacity, the lifting of intellectual property rights is not enough. Patrick Tippoo, director of the Africa Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative, calls for a transfer of resources to end inequalities between countries.
COVID-19: Africa Needs to Break the Circle of Dependency.
13 MAY 2021 – Africa Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI) primarily aims at promoting the establishment of sustainable human vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa. Since its establishment, AVMI together with multiple and different partners, have been advocating for the establishment of vaccine development and manufacturing in Africa.
Africa can avoid repeating its Covid-19 mistakes with a new malaria vaccine.
9 MAY 2021 – A global group of researchers recently released a preliminary study reporting that their malaria vaccine showed up to 77% efficacy in a one-year preliminary clinical trial involving 450 children in Burkina Faso.
Why South Africa stopped making vaccines.
South Africa is one of only a handful of African countries — the others are Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia — with at least some capability to make vaccines. Yet our country is producing next to none.
South Africa has world-class local vaccine-production facilities in the form of the Cape Town-based company, Biovac, which was created in 2003 in partnership with the government as a way to “establish local vaccine manufacturing capability”.
South Africa manufactures COVID-19 vaccines.
28 APRIL 2023 – On Wednesday, South Africa resumed its COVID-19 vaccine rollout, two weeks after suspending the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. This time around, the country will have an extra boost of more than 1 million doses, produced locally. The World’s Halima Gikandi reports on what this tells us about vaccine manufacturing in Africa.
Africa’s vaccine revolution must have research at its core.
21 APRIL 2021 – A continent of 1.2 billion people should not have to import 99% of its vaccines. But that is the tragic reality for Africa. Fixing the lack of home-grown manufacturing capacity has become a top priority for Africa’s policymakers. Last week, 40,000 people, including researchers, business leaders, and members of civil society groups, joined heads of state for a two-day online summit designed to share the latest developments and kick-start fresh thinking on how to bring vaccine manufacturing to Africa.
How COVID spurred Africa to plot a vaccines revolution.
21 APRIL 2021 – Prompted by the pandemic, Africa’s leaders are on a path to ramp up capacity in vaccine manufacturing and boost the continent’s regulatory bodies for medicines. On 13 April, they pledged to increase the share of vaccines manufactured in Africa from 1% to 60% by 2040. This includes building factories and bolstering capacity in research and development.