EC and Pharma to explore potential for making vaccines and treatments in Africa

The European Commission (EC), together with the European and international associations representing R&D-based biopharma companies, are exploring the opportunities, challenges and possible avenues to create stronger vaccine and treatment manufacturing capabilities in Africa.

The European Union has identified the strengthening of health industries in Africa as being a critical objective to increase the continent's longer-term health security and improve health outcomes. In May 2021, the EC announced the Team Europe initiative (TEI) on Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines, Medicines and Health Technologies (MAV+). In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, strengthening vaccine manufacturing capacity on the African continent is an immediate priority for the TEI, and the EC.

The innovative biopharmaceutical industry remains deeply committed doing all it can to support urgently needed steps to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are equitably distributed and is encouraged that the manufacturing scale up of vaccines is on track to reach 12 billion by the end of 2021. This massive scale up has been achieved through global partnerships, and much of Africa’s existing manufacturing capacity is engaged in this endeavour.