With the aim to mitigate the dependency of many African countries on a small number of vaccine-producing and exporting countries to procure potentially life-saving COVID-19 vaccines, kENUP Foundation and its partners have started  “Vaccine Equity for Africa”. An integral part of this programme has been the collective drafting of a White Book titled “Technology Transfer and Establishment of Sustainable Vaccine Production in Africa – A Regulatory Perspective”. 

The aim of the White Book is to introduce concepts on how to localize vaccine manufacturing in Africa by applying existing globally acknowledged regulatory standards. The White Book has been a catalyst in the Pan-African effort to launch the first step in introducing mRNA and other vaccine technologies to Africa. Based on the scientific and regulatory principles laid down in the White Book, the time between the conception of the idea to the practical implementation has been shortened to just several months, which could be enormously helpful in the effort to mitigate the effect of the current pandemic. The project will further contribute to improving the capabilities of countries in the Global South to manage potential future epidemics and pandemics, and to establish the regional production of vaccines targeting infectious diseases endemic across Africa. 

The COVID-19 pandemic made visible the dependency of many countries, especially in the Global South, on a small number of vaccine-producing countries:

• Globally, only a few countries are responsible for the bulk of COVID-19 vaccine exports. Meanwhile, it is widely recognized that vaccines are distributed unevenly. 
• High-income countries have sixty-two times the number of vaccine doses per inhabitant available to them compared to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Less than one percent of people in LMICs have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, conferring partial immune protection. 
• In the international community, the realization is growing that decentralized production is vital. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO stated that “vaccine equity is the challenge of our time, and we are failing”.

In May 2021, WHO recognized the importance of producing locally by adopting the resolution ‘Strengthening local production of medicines and other health technologies to improve access’ calling for local manufacturing of vaccines. In parallel, WHO is initiating several tech transfer hubs on the African continent. 

Following the summit on vaccine manufacturing organized by the African Union (AU), the Africa CDC has launched the Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) Task Force with a clear mandate, operating model, and governance structure to enable sustainable African vaccine manufacturing. 

kENUP supports the African Union, Africa CDC and PAVM in this important effort.

On August 27, 2021, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President Macky Sall of Senegal, and President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission met Uğur Şahin, CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech in Berlin at the Barenboim-Said-Akademie to discuss the development of sustainable vaccine production for Africa.

The meeting, which was convened by the kENUP Foundation in cooperation with BioNTech, took place at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin. Also in attendance were Dr John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Africa Regional Director, and Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank (EIB).

kENUP connects its industrial clients from all over the world with Governments and public project developers in Africa, and supports both sides in the development of sustainable value propositions for the manufacturing of vaccines, against COVID-19 and beyond, as well as of humanized monoclonal antibodies, small antibodies and non-invasive differential diagnostics.