US, partners inject Sh77bn into Africa Covid-19 vaccine production plan

 

The US government and its partners on Thursday announced a billion-shilling loan to one of Africa’s definitive programmes for local vaccine production, in an initiative that will boost the war on Covid-19.

Additionally, South Africa has been selected as the anchor centre for the Sh77 billion project to produce vaccines for the continent that is currently fighting the third wave of the pandemic.

The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced on Thursday that the money will be given to Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd in South Africa with the hope of expanding the region’s vaccine manufacturing capacity.  

“We are keeping President [Joe] Biden’s promise and aim to do what we can to increase local production. Our goal is to help Africa develop manufacturing in Africa for Africa.

“The direct loan to South Africa will help Aspen’s effort to produce vaccines for Africa for this and next year thereby helping meet the African Union (AU) goal of 400 million vaccines,” David Marchick, the chief operating officer at DFC, told a digital press conference on Thursday.

The DFC is working with DEG (Germany), Proparco (France), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to provide this financing support. 

Distribution of vaccines

Aspen will be tasked with producing Covid-19 vaccines under what is called the Stringent Regulatory Authorisation (SRA) as well as under the World Health Organization (WHO) emergency use listing. It will initially manufacture the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine.

Mr Marchick also disclosed that the vaccines will be primarily distributed to the African Union, South Africa's government and Gavi-Covax, the vaccine alliance facility created by WHO to oversee procurement, allotment and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines to 92 countries that have signed up.

DFC's investment in Aspen falls under its global health platform (GHP) launched in July 2020 to help developing countries fight the coronavirus pandemic and increase their healthcare systems' resilience.

Including this new project, DFC has committed Sh196 billion in Covid-19 related projects since March 2020 of which Sh124 billion falls under GHP that was created specifically to support vaccine and related initiatives, an official statement said.

Part of the financing will go to supporting storage facilities for the vaccines as well as distribution logistics.

Vaccine apartheid

Africa has protested recently after details emerged of how their orders placed to vaccine manufacturers were put behind those of richer countries. 

Instead, the continent has been left with receiving donations, as well as subsidised doses from the Serum Institute of India, which is manufacturing the AstraZeneca vaccine for the Covax facility.

Those doses have yet to be authorised in European Union countries, meaning that even fully vaccinated people from Africa are still considered a health hazard on paper. 

The EU, however, announced on Wednesday that it is working with Rwanda to set up another vaccine production centre in Kigali to help supply doses to the region.

In June this year, the US listed Kenya among countries that will benefit from 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses it promised to donate to nearly 100 countries. The jabs are expected in the country by August this year.

It did not, however, disclose how many doses each African country will get.

“We are mounting a comprehensive response on Covid-19...vaccines and all the issues related. We will share 80 million doses from our own vaccines as President Biden promised and deliver them to various countries and at the moment we are working on the delivery plans plus the 500 million doses which will be produced and delivered as well,” the US said in a White House press statement.

“In addition to sharing doses from our own vaccine supply, the Biden-Harris Administration is also committed to working with our US manufacturers to produce more vaccines to share with the world...To that end, ahead of the G7, President Biden announced that the US will purchase half a billion doses and donate them to 92 low- and lower middle-income countries and members of the African Union.”    BY DAILY NATION