Africa receives international support for Covid-19 vaccine and pharma manufacturing

SA, along with other African countries, will receive international support for vaccine production to accelerate the continent’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Friday, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Proparco, the German Development Finance Institution (DEG) and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced a partnership to support vaccine manufacturing in Africa.

Through the partnership, IFC, Proparco, a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement (AFD Group), DEG and DFC, along with other partners, are exploring potential collaboration with vaccine producers on the continent, including Aspen, to support the continued development of sustainable local vaccine and pharmaceutical manufacturing in Africa. 

This is expected to enable the continent to both respond to Covid-19 and be ready to respond to future pandemics and supply chain disruptions.

David Marchick, DFC COO, said increasing the production of vaccines in Africa for the continent will save lives and diversify the global supply chain for vaccines.

“Our common goal is that everyone who needs a Covid-19 vaccine gets one and gets it fast. Through this partnership, we aim to generate replicable, lasting solutions to allow African countries to get life-saving drugs and vaccines to more people,” said Makhtar Diop, IFC’s MD.

Diop said creating and developing markets for vaccines and other pharmaceutical products was a priority for IFC in Africa.

“We need strong partnerships and co-operation between the public and private sectors to support countries and regions to combat this pandemic now and to build in the longer-term more resilient health systems and supply chains.”

Grégory Clemente, CEO of Proparco, said ensuring that everyone can access tests, treatments and vaccines was the only way to tackle Covid-19.

Supporting the development of local vaccine production capacities is a vital part of the response, he said.

“This partnership will provide significant support to African vaccine producers to increase local vaccine production. The objective of this collaboration is to produce more Covid-19 vaccines in the short term with state-of-the-art manufacturing capacities.”

Monika Beck, a member of DEG’s management board, said in many aspects, the Covid-19 pandemic has painfully highlighted the need for increased international co-operation.

“As DEG we are happy to be able to rely on the international partnership of development banks and finance institutions. This well-proven and institutionalised network allows us to join forces quickly and to provide a strong response to the current pandemic. This includes the provision of financing for vaccine production in Africa but also for other sectors that strengthen the resilience of the local population such as the health sector in general, food production or housing matters,” said Beck. 

According to the organisations, Covid-19 has highlighted the scarcity of local and regional pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing in Africa and the importance of investing in health systems more broadly to successfully fight the pandemic.

TimesLIVE