The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the six African countries that will benefit from technology transfer to produce their own mRNA vaccines. These are Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal and Tunisia.
Speaking on Friday 18 February on the sidelines of the EU-Africa summit, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hinted that it has become an imperative for the companies producing the vaccines to share their technology with others. in order to effectively fight against the coronavirus pandemic which has already claimed more than 5 million lives worldwide.
“The best way to deal with health emergencies and achieve universal health coverage is to dramatically increase the capacity of all regions to produce the health products they need,” added the WHO boss.
The technology transfer project had been launched as part of efforts to help poor countries manufacture Covid-19 vaccines to global quality standards. The technology is used to produce vaccines, including Pfizer and Moderna.
It should be noted that the European Union has announced that it intends to invest 45 million USD in Africa to stimulate local production of vaccines.
