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16 September 2021Big PharmaBen Wodecki

WHO plans to vaccinate Africa with Moderna COVID vaccine hit stumbling block

Just 12 African countries have hit WHO’s 10% vaccination target as supply chain issues worsen

Plans to open a COVID-19 vaccine production venue in Africa have hit a stumbling block after Moderna said setting up such a site may take considerable time.

Talks with Modern have “not yielded any results,” Martin Friede, World Health Organization (WHO) Initiative for Vaccine Research coordinator, told Reuters.

The WHO set up a tech transfer hub in South Africa back in June in a bid to provide economically challenged nations with the ability to create COVID vaccines.

However, while Moderna said last October that it would not enforce patents related to its vaccine during the pandemic, a deal to recreate it in that tech transfer hub seems far off.

Moderna’s vaccine, which requires two shots 28 days apart, was chosen due to there being a plethora of public information on it alongside the company’s pledge not to enforce IP rights, Friede said.

"We have to make a choice now. The deadline is upon us; time to start ordering chemicals. We've chosen Moderna."

However, even if a deal with the US pharma giant was struck, Africans waiting for a vaccine may face a wait of more than a year – as clinical trials would only begin in the latter half of 2022, he warned.

Warnings and failures as Covax struggles

According to figures, just 30% of the world’s population is fully vaccinated, with around 43% having received at least one dose.

Just 3% of Africa's population is fully vaccinated. Comparatively, the UK is 65% fully vaccinated, while the US is just over half.

WHO has targeted fully vaccinating 10% of all people in Africa by the end of September – but issues with supply chains have seen it fall well short of its target.

The global health body said that African countries have so far received 158 million vaccine doses, with around 37% coming through the Covax vaccine scheme.

The lack of supply was largely due to richer nations buying up most of the supply – with Covax introduced to make sure less well off nations securing a slice of the stock.

Vaccine supplies to Africa steadily improved in July and August, with wealthier countries opting to donate directly to nations as well as via Covax.

Just 12 African nations have reached WHO’s 10% target – with Covax expected to deliver a further 620 million doses to Africa by year-end.

"The necessity to prioritize supply for the African continent has become more than urgent," said Richard Mihigo, head of immunization and vaccine development at the WHO Africa office.

Africa’s Covax plight wasn’t helped after India halted vaccine exports to focus on its growing case numbers. The vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII), was one of the largest suppliers to the scheme.

This followed warnings from French experts that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine contained “a significant number of failures” that others available.

The report from the French medicine regulator ANSM advised recipients to instead get a second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.

Moderna’s own vaccine was the subject of an investigation by the US Department of Health and Human Services last September.

The agency was looking into whether the pharma firm fully disclosed information on government funding related to patent applications for both its COVID-19 vaccine, as well as another for the Zika virus.

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More on this story

Americas
12 August 2020   US biotech company Moderna has said it’s possible that it may not be the first company to make the inventions claimed in its pending patent applications, which include the breakthroughs for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine.
Americas
8 September 2020   A US Department of Health and Human Services agency will investigate whether Moderna disclosed information on government funding in patent applications relating to its COVID-19 vaccine.
Americas
11 November 2021   Moderna is facing accusations from the US National Institute of Health that it failed to give due recognition to three scientists as inventors on its COVID-19 vaccine application.

More on this story

Americas
12 August 2020   US biotech company Moderna has said it’s possible that it may not be the first company to make the inventions claimed in its pending patent applications, which include the breakthroughs for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine.
Americas
8 September 2020   A US Department of Health and Human Services agency will investigate whether Moderna disclosed information on government funding in patent applications relating to its COVID-19 vaccine.
Americas
11 November 2021   Moderna is facing accusations from the US National Institute of Health that it failed to give due recognition to three scientists as inventors on its COVID-19 vaccine application.