25 January 2022
Last update on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 At 3:16 PM
Covid-19 has highlighted the flaws in health systems on the African continent. Faced with the difficulties of access to vaccines, several countries on the continent have undertaken initiatives aimed at reducing their dependence on the outside world.
South Africa inaugurated a vaccine manufacturing unit in Cape Town on January 19. The announcement was made by the Presidency of the Republic, the same day, via a press release.
The objective of this initiative is to accelerate Africa’s self-sufficiency in pharmaceuticals, biologicals and vaccines. This vaccine production unit, called Nant SA, will focus on the mass production of drugs and vaccines for all of Africa.
“This state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing campus that we are officially launching today is part of a much larger initiative to propel Africa into a new era of health sciences,” the CEO hinted. South African head of state, Cyril Ramaphosa.
It was also an opportunity to officially introduce the Coalition to Accelerate Africa’s Access to Advanced Healthcare (AAAH Coalition). It aims to unite biotech and pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, non-profit organizations and universities across the continent, with a view to harnessing skills and resources and identifying cross-country collaboration opportunities.
“Our goal is to cover the entire production value chain by improving existing capabilities and integrating new capabilities,” Ramaphosa said.
This new pharmaceutical plant joins several structures such as Biovac, Aspen and Afrigen already based in South Africa.
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