🌍 Clapback

Happy Friday! Today being the first Friday after Father’s Day is National Take Your Dog to Work Day. Now while this may be perfectly in line with your plans if you’re working remotely, we wouldn’t advise you to consider showing your dog around a plane cabin if you’re a flight attendant or worse still, show them your workspace if you work at a shelter for cats.

-Chibuike Uzor

A Swift Response

Barely 48 hours after an Independent Panel set by the WHO to report on countries’ ability to respond to a subsequent pandemic stated that Africa had not built enough capacity to tackle another pandemic, African leaders met in Paris under the aegis of GAVI to launch the African Vaccine Manufacturers Accelerator.

Business as Usual?

Not quite. While the name may be misleading, the AVMA constitutes a source of capital financing to the tune of $1 billion for companies trying to break even in vaccine manufacturing on the continent. The project will run from 2026-2030 and will ensure local manufacturers can scale production and subsequently offer competitive prices relative to foreign manufacturers.

While some companies are more likely to benefit from the initiative than others, GAVI has committed to a 100% transparent process to determine who gets what. And there’s quite the queue.

1. West African behemoth, Institut Pasteur de Dakar best known for its work in Yellow Fever will be counting on extra capital to complete its pivot to mRNA-based vaccines.

2. Egypt’s Vacsera will be looking to capitalize even more on a bigger scale of production.

3. South Africa’s Biovac already manufactures vaccines on behalf of big pharmaceutical companies like Sanofi & Novo Nordisk.

Looking ahead. This is much-needed relief in Africa’s pursuit of self-sufficiency in vaccines. Especially considering Africa CDC’s target to have 60% of all vaccines administered on the continent locally manufactured; a 73% jump from current manufacturing rates locally.