Two recent developments in South Africa have underscored the opportunities – and challenges – facing vaccine production on the continent.
The tender outcome is truly paradoxical given that South Africa has expressed a strong commitment to local production of medicines. The request for bids to supply vaccines for the national programme that included Prevenar/PCV13 went as far as to make a reference to special consideration for locally produced products.
Since 2021, vaccine production initiatives in Africa have mostly focused on financing and partnership building, leaving out the central question of market access for products made in African countries.First, competitive production in the vaccine sector depends on scale. The larger the company’s production volumes, the cheaper the price. But to achieve scale, local companies need market access.
If the aim is to enable local vaccine production in Africa, we have to ensure that local producers have access to their national markets. Such market access must be facilitated speedily through national procurement policies.But balancing these three goals is not easy. Focusing just on the lowest prices may in fact, lead to the elimination of local companies, driving them out of business.
What Africa needs Biovac was set up as a public private partnership in 2003. It has faced many challenges. These include uncertain periods as the exclusive supplier to South Africa’s Ministry of Health, and changes in product development trajectories to suit the national protocol choices.