African biopharmaceutical company, Biovac, and the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI) together with members of South Africa’s health ministry, hosted the Honourable Minister of Health for Ghana, Bernard Okoe-Boye, and his Ghanaian delegation on Monday, 12 August, 2024.
Source: Biovac.
This significant visit aimed to highlight South Africa’s vaccine-production capabilities as a showcase of end-to-end vaccine capabilities on the African continent and aimed to explore potential areas of collaboration between member states and African manufacturers on the journey to building vaccine capabilities on the continent.
The delegation visited Biovac’s vaccine manufacturing facility in Cape Town, South Africa, to learn about the company’s experiences in their journey towards end-to-end vaccine operations and to explore their state-of-the-art development and production facilities.
“Biovac’s vision is to be Africa’s continental leader when it comes to vaccine innovation, drug substance and drug product manufacturing and supply. The Ghanaian delegation visit came at an opportune time, when Biovac could demonstrate this vision through showcasing our well-established routine vaccine operations, our ongoing product development and technology-transfer projects and our newly established Drug Substances suite.”
Sharing vaccine insights
“It is important to us that we can share lessons learnt with our African counterparts in our long journey of establishing vaccine manufacturing capability as Ghana embarks on a similar journey to us,” said Biovac chief executive officer, Morena Makhoana.
“Biovac’s unwavering dedication to supplying innovative vaccines and growing local vaccine production, is a strong enabler of the African Union’s ambition to manufacture at least 60% of the total vaccine doses locally on the continent by 2040,” he added.
“We are fully committed in supporting Biovac which is on this path of building capacity and producing vaccines on the continent. It can be assured that we will prepare the market to take up its products when they come out of its manufacturing lines, said Okoe Boye.
“The innovation showcased at Biovac brings a sense of comfort to South Africa and stands the continent in good stead, as we need to support local industries and enable them to become self-sufficient to produce at affordable prices for future pandemics,” said South Africa’s National Department of Health deputy director general, Anban Pillay.
Strengthening vaccine partnerships
Given the landscape for African vaccine manufacturing post pandemic, this is an opportune time to reflect on the learnings and challenges of Biovac’s 21-year journey. The visit follows the recent announcement of a €32m initiative by the European Union (EU) to enhance vaccine production in Ghana.
Executive director of African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI) and chief executive officer of the National Vaccine Institute in Ghana, William Ampofo, expressed optimism that the global initiative would create a conducive environment for local vaccine production.
“There is a pressing need to strengthen public-private partnerships to support the pharmaceutical industry. The visit aims to enhance collaboration between the two countries, focusing on opportunities for knowledge exchange and capacity building as well as advancing public health and biotechnological innovation,” he added.
The delegation was hosted by the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI) and included representatives of members from the South African ministry of health, the Ghanaian ministry of health, ministry of finance, the Food and Drugs Authority, the heads of vaccine manufacturing companies and experts from local research institutes.
