Ghebreyesus who announced this yesterday at
the European Union – African Union summit in Brussels said the countries all
applied and were selected as recipients.
The announcement was made at a ceremony
hosted by the European Council, France, South Africa and WHO in the presence of
President Macron, President Ramaphosa, the President of the European Council,
Charles Michel and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der
Leyen.
The mRNA vaccines are different from most
vaccines which contain a weakened or inactive piece of the target virus which
triggers the production of antibodies.
Instead these game-changing type of
vaccines use laboratory engineering mRNA that give cells instructions on how to
create a protein that resembles a piece of a protein found in the virus of
concern — COVID-19 in this case.
This triggers the body to create antibodies
to deactivate the foreign protein. The antibodies then linger in the body to
fight subsequent infection from COVID-19. This technology is used in the
production of Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines.
Ghebreyesus said the COVID-19 pandemic had
shown that reliance on a few companies to supply global public goods was
limiting and dangerous.
With the addition of Nigeria to the four
countries earlier approved for the vaccine production on the continent, efforts
by the Buhari administration to change the selection that the country
considered unrepresentative of the needs, capabilities and population
distribution in Africa has thus yielded the desired result.
President Buhari has since welcomed the
development.
In his contribution at the Roundtable on
Health Systems and Vaccine Production at the ongoing 6th Europe-Africa Summit
in Brussels, Belgium yesterday, Buhari called for a closer collaboration with
the EU to tackle the effects of the pandemic on the African continent.
He expressed delight at receiving the news
of the selection of Nigeria among recipients of mRNA Vaccine technology
transfer.
Buhari said: “We shall ensure the best use
is made of the opportunity. Nigeria also offers to host the Bio-manufacturing
Training hub proposed by World Health Organisation (WHO). We commit to
providing support to make the hub functional in the shortest possible time.”
While commending the efforts of the foreign
partners in making the Covid-19 vaccine available, he urged them to do more as
less than 10 per cent of the African population had gotten the jab, stressing
that this situation could negatively affect Africa’s developmental projections.
“In the mid- to long-term, the best way to
address health emergencies and reach universal health coverage is to
significantly increase the capacity of all regions to manufacture the health
products they need, with equitable access as their primary endpoint,” Buhari
said.
Responding to the announcement, President
Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said: “This is an initiative that will allow us
to make our own vaccines and that, to us, is very important. It means mutual
respect, mutual recognition of what we can all bring to the party, investment
in our economies, infrastructure investment and, in many ways, giving back to
the continent.”
The global mRNA technology transfer hub was
established in 2021 to support manufacturers in low- and middle-income
countries to produce their own vaccines, ensuring that they have all the
necessary operating procedures and know-how to manufacture mRNA vaccines at
scale and according to international standards.
Also French President, Emmanuel Macron
said: “Improved public health benefits, supporting African health sovereignty
and economic development are the principal goals of strengthening local
production in Africa. In an interconnected world, we need stronger and new
partnerships between countries, development partners and other stakeholders to
empower regions and countries to fend for themselves, during crises, and in
peace time.”
On his part, President of the European
Council, Charles Michel said the world needed to create an environment where
every scientist, health worker, and government can band together for a common
cause by working together “to build new solutions to protect what is most
precious – our health and our lives.” He said the initiative will ensure that
all countries build the necessary capacity to produce their own vaccines and
other health technologies.
The WHO mRNA technology transfer hub is
part of a larger effort aimed at empowering low- and middle-income countries to
produce their own vaccines, medicines and diagnostics to address health
emergencies and reach universal health coverage.