Presented by Africa CDC and African Union, and the Government of Rwanda
When the World Health Organization launched an mRNA manufacturing hub in South Africa in 2021, it did so with a lofty goal — to share technology and knowledge between manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries to produce COVID-19 vaccines in order to combat vaccine inequity. The COVID-19 pandemic was still wreaking havoc across the world, and an effort to waive patent protections was still months away from becoming reality.
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Almost a year after the hub began its work, it is still more than a year away from unlocking commercial production of a COVID-19 vaccine, let alone transferring that technology to its 15 partner facilities across the global south so they can produce their own jabs. But now, those technology recipients — known as “spokes” — may ultimately bypass COVID-19 vaccine production entirely and use the knowledge they’re receiving from the hub to produce mRNA-based vaccines for other diseases.
• The idea behind the hub is to build a global network of manufacturers capable of producing commercially viable mRNA vaccines. But this will be a reality only after they overcome certain hurdles, including finding workers, constructing facilities, and sorting out intellectual property and regulatory issues, Andrew Green reports for Devex.
• And although the demand for that vaccine may have waned by the time the challenges are resolved, it is still a crucial test for whether low- and middle-income countries can have more control over global vaccine supply, which is now dominated by the global north.
• At the center of the model is Afrigen, a private biotechnology company in Cape Town that was responsible for developing an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, a feat it achieved in February using publicly available information about the Moderna jab. Its task is now to transfer the knowledge to 15 “spokes” — six of which are in Africa, five in Asia, and the rest in South America and eastern Europe.
• Sinergium Biotech and Bio-Manguinhos, the two South American spokes, are considering what other vaccines they might develop, even before a possible COVID-19 jab.“It might make more sense to shift to another antigen or another disease, which is something we are working on in collaboration with the WHO,” says Fernando Lobos, the business development director at Sinergium. “We’re trying to identify what are the needs of our region and what makes the most sense.”
• If successful, this could be a potential first step in boosting research and development capacity beyond just vaccines — the Group of 20 major economies is already talking about setting up an R&D and manufacturing network for health products across the board.
• “There is a huge impetus to do something, which is great,” says Charles Gore, the executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool, a partner in developing the mRNA hub. “But the complexities of doing it are something else, and not something we can just put together in a couple of months.”
Read more: South Africa's mRNA hub confronts old problems and new directions
Related: US forges partnership with South Africa's mRNA tech transfer hub
By the numbers
64%
—That’s the percentage of the global vaccine supply that was provided by only nine manufacturers in 2021, excluding COVID-19 vaccines. Despite an uptick in supply, the market continues to rely on a few manufacturers.
“We're not only dealing with oligopolies, which we know underdeliver relative to need, but also these manufacturers are concentrated in a few countries and a few regions,” says Tania Cernuschi of WHO’s Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals.
Read: Global vaccine market 'dealing with oligopolies,' WHO says
Live from Sharm el-Sheikh
Our colleagues Rumbi Chakamba, Sara Jerving, and William Worley have been in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this week, covering the ins and outs of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference. Today, Sara is moderating a panel — Taking a toll: Climate change as a health emergency — for our Devex @ COP 27 side event, in which she’s interviewing Diana Picon Manyari from Health Care Without Harm, Ashley Lashley from the eponymous foundation, and Alice Bell of Wellcome. If you’re not at the event in person today, you can watch the broadcast tomorrow.
Post-COP(ing) mechanism
Will COP 27 be a success for climate advocates or will key demands fall short — and what does it all mean for global development organizations? In the aftermath of the negotiations, join Devex and a panel of experts for a Pro event on Nov. 22 to assess the outcomes.
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Next week: Pattaya
Amruta will be at the International Conference for Family Planning in Thailand next week, where she’ll be moderating a discussion on an underreported but vital topic: the need for feminist philanthropy to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights. What is so “feminist” about this philanthropy, you ask? You can watch the discussion online here. And if you happen to be in Pattaya for the conference, say hello!
Floodgates are open
“With the floods, all the polio campaigns had to stop. Not only did the campaign stop, you had massive internal displacement of people, so people moved carrying the polio virus with them.”
— Mark Suzman, CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationIn the third episode of our new podcast series, COPcast, Suzman talked about the impact that climate change can have on health, outlining the case in Pakistan where the recent floods have seen resurgence of polio in several cities.
Podcast: COPcast episode #3 – Mark Suzman on Gates’ 'shift' on climate
+ COPcast is a series of conversations with leading experts on climate change. Listen to the podcast on Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or search “Devex” in your favorite podcast app.
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Health and environmental problems are often considered separately, but the two are linked inextricably, as recent climate events have shown. To explore the linkages further, our colleagues at Devex Partnerships have started a new series on planetary health. Watch this video to understand why the health of the planet should matter as much as that of humans.
DevExplains: What is planetary health?
+ Catch up on all you need to know about the Planet Health series here.
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Today at 10:30 a.m. ET (about an hour’s time!) we are hosting a discussion on how the U.S. midterm elections will impact #globaldev and the future of U.S. aid in many areas including the reauthorization of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.
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What we’re reading
Low- and middle-income nations would have had lower death rates if COVID-19 vaccines had been shared more equitably, studies show. [Nature]
Did lobbyists and negotiators water down the TRIPS proposal? [Politico]
Schools close in Uganda as eight children died of Ebola. [Al Jazeera]
About the authors
Amruta Byatnalamrutabyatnal
Amruta Byatnal is a Senior Editor at Devex where she edits coverage on global development, humanitarian crises and international aid. She writes Devex CheckUp, a weekly newsletter on the latest developments in global health. Previously, she worked for News Deeply in the United States, and The Hindu in India. She is a graduate of Cornell University where she studied international development. She is currently based in New Delhi.
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
