Browsing: COVID-19 Vaccine

What’s going on with Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing in South Africa?

Investing May 18, 2022

Stavros Nicolaou, a Senior Executive at Aspen Pharmacare Group said in the absence of orders or commitments, Aspen is considering the repurposing of two COVID-19 production lines for the manufacture of other products.

“The continent would lose its only existing COVID vaccine manufacturing capacity, It would be a massive setback for Africa’s plans to localize and reduce its dependency on imported vaccines,” he said.

John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said global health security would be undermined if companies like Aspen were not backed.…

Africa CDC decry unfair treatment on new international travel rules

Africa September 29, 2021

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Africa CDC, has issued a statement on the recent international travel rules in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Specialised Technical Institution of the African Union, noted in a statement that the planned changes to international travel rules are discrminative.

The rules were communicated by the Government of the United Kingdom (U.K), which will be enforced starting at 4:00 am on Monday 4th October 2021.

Also Read: Public, private sector investment needed for vaccine manufacturing: EAC

“With a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan or the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Formulations of the 4 listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as …

African Union holds global conference to accelerate African vaccine development and manufacturing capacity

News Room April 21, 2021

African leaders assembled at a global meeting to discuss the status of local pharmaceutical manufacturing on the continent, underscored the need to increase local production of vaccines and therapeutics to achieve greater public-health security.

“The production of vaccines and access to vaccines is an absolute priority,” Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, said Monday in opening remarks at the start of the two-day virtual meeting, convened by the African Union.

The meeting was attended by several African heads of state, health, finance, and trade ministers from across the continent, as well as officials from global financial institutions, foundations, pharmaceutical manufacturers, business leaders, and the general public. The African Development Bank was represented by Solomon Quaynor, Vice President Private Sector, Infrastructure, and Industrialization.

Although Africa consumes approximately one-quarter of global vaccines by volume, it manufactures less than 1% of its routine vaccines, with almost no outbreak vaccine manufacturing in place. The

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COVAX in Africa: Resetting the economy?

Africa January 31, 2021

The super spreading virus that triggered a pandemic of global proportions has entered a second wave. Most African countries are struggling to cope. Their already fractured health systems are at pains and facing challenges in handling the ballooning cases. Lockdowns and travel restrictions are still in place for some countries, greatly impacting economic activity.

For example, Zimbabwe is currently in the middle of a month-long lockdown with only essential services operating. The restrictions have shut down all informal sector activity, which forms the bulk of economic activity. In South Africa, level 4 restrictions induced the closure of the busiest land borders. …

COVID lessons: Why Africa needs robust education systems

Africa January 31, 2021

Education is the lifeline of development in Africa. At present, things are changing rapidly within the African education domain. Modern technology is now transforming learning in classrooms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda to mention a few.
African states, just as other nations across the globe, are experiencing economic shocks from the coronavirus (COVID-19), which forced 250 million African children to stay home.

Across the region, children were out of school for various periods. In Kenya, children remained home for the entire course of 2020 since March, while Tanzania’s school shutdown lasted for three months. …

Manufacturing of Candidate COVID-19 Vaccine On African Soil

Africa November 13, 2020

COVID-19 Vaccine On African Soil

South African Aspen Pharmacare, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aspen Holdings, has entered into an arrangement with Janssen Pharmaceutical, an arm of Johnson & Johnson, for the commercial reproduction of candidate COVID vaccine Ad26.COV2-S.

Aspen Pharmacare will do the formulation, filling as well as secondary packaging of the vaccine. After which it will be supplied to Johnson & Johnson.

COVID-19 Vaccine

The fine print of the agreement, including the terms of manufacturing, is yet to be concluded. Further, the technology transfer required to complete the successful implementation of the deal has not yet been finalized.

The manufacturing will be done at one of Aspen Pharmacare’s sterile facilities, which has the capacity to produce 300 million doses per annum, located in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Currency, the proposed vaccine is undergoing clinical trials.

To date, Aspen has poured in over $3 million of investment to prepare the …