Six African countries receive RNA technology for their anticovid vaccines

Six African countries – Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia – will receive the technology to produce their own messenger RNA vaccines, a key step in ending the global inequality in COVID vaccination.

A person protests in Cape Town (South Africa) for equal access to vaccines against covid. EFE/EPA/NIC BOTHMA

The Director General of the World Health Organization (who), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesusannounced the names of the six beneficiary countries of this initiative on vaccines in the framework of the European Union (EU)-Africa summit held in Brussels, and in the presence of the presidents of those nations, in addition to the French Emmanuel Macron and the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

“They will be vaccines designed by Africa, owned by Africa, and with African leadership,” said Von der Leyen, who stressed that the EU, France and Germany have supported the project that has made this advance possible with an investment of 40 million euros. .

The initiative took its first steps last year with the creation of a research center on messenger RNA technology in Cape Town (South Africa), in which not only the EU, France and Germany have collaborated, but also Belgium, Norway and Canada.

Its goal was to develop its own mRNA technology, a new field for vaccine design that has achieved the most effective in the current COVID-19 pandemic: the drugs developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech were based on it, and showed the rates higher effectiveness against the coronavirus.

mRNA vaccines differ from traditional ones (normally based on weakened forms of the virus) in that they introduce ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules that by themselves contain instructions with which the human body can produce the virus and at the same time the antibody that neutralize.

First African anticovid vaccine

The Cape Town center, which Tedros visited last week, has already managed to develop an anticovid vaccine similar to Moderna’s in the laboratory, although there is still a long way to go: clinical trials will begin this year, and even if they are developed with success may have to wait until 2024 for it to be available.

The center is run by a consortium that includes the South African vaccine manufacturer Biovac, the firm Afrigen Biologics (which developed the necessary technology) and the South African Medical Research Council.

The necessary training to develop the vaccine production centers in the six selected countries will begin in March, and although the fight against COVID-19 will surely be its first priority, the longer-term objective is to combat other diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis or AIDS.

Von der Leyen highlighted in this regard that currently only 1% of the vaccines administered in Africa are produced on the continent, but that with initiatives such as the current one, it is hoped that by 2040 that percentage will rise to 60%.

“It is not acceptable that Africa is always at the bottom of access to vaccines. We appreciate the donations, but they are not sustainable solutions and we want to empower ourselves », she added at the ceremony South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Queue to get vaccinated in Johannesburg (South Africa). EFE/EPA/Kim Ludbrook

Vaccines in Africa: only 20% immunized

Although more than 10,000 million anticovid vaccines have already been administered in the world, with which more than 60% of the global population has received at least one dose, the distribution is very unequal.

While developed countries have very high vaccination rates and many of their citizens have even received booster injections, in Africa 80% of the population has not received a single dose.

“We have many tools to combat COVID-19, the great tragedy has been that millions of people have not yet benefited from them,” lamented Tedros, who recalled that 116 countries in the world are still far from achieving the great goal of achieving by mid-2022 that 70% of its population is vaccinated.

Although today’s announcement is important, Ramaphosa recalled that there are other ways to fight inequality in the pandemic, such as the suspension of vaccine and treatment patents that his country and India have been defending since 2020 before the World Trade Organization (WTO). .

Dozens of countries have joined the Indo-South African request, but an agreement has not yet been reached due to the reluctance of countries that are the headquarters of large pharmaceutical companies, as is the case of many in the European Union, Japan or Switzerland.

“With today’s initiative we limit the benefits of companies but at the same time we protect the precious asset that is intellectual property, we have to find a bridge between both things,” said Von der Leyen

MSF values ​​the decision but asks for greater involvement of Moderna

Doctors Without Borders appreciates the WHO’s decision but urges Moderna to help the Cape Town center to shorten production times and recalls that its vaccine was financed with public funds.

According Kate Stegeman, MSF Access Campaign Advocacy Coordinator For the Africa region, “This announcement marks a positive milestone on the path to expanding vaccine manufacturing capacity in low- and middle-income countries.”

In a statement, MSF highlights that the center’s research and development partner, the South African company Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, has recently succeeded in producing microliter batches of an mRNA vaccine based on the publicly available sequence of the vaccine from the American pharmaceutical corporation Moderna. .

“And it has succeeded despite the lack of help from Moderna even though its vaccine has been financed, to a large extent, with public funds. The timeframe for the center to produce a final mRNA vaccine and eventual technology transfer to manufacturers is considerable, but could be shortened significantly if Moderna were to provide technical assistance to the center.”

The medical organization believes that many more advances are needed, such as developing a more heat-stable version, conducting clinical trials, and developing a large-scale manufacturing process. Thus, MSF urges Modernawhose vaccine is the most similar to the one designed by Afigen, to provide technical assistance to the center to shorten production lead timesNo of the vaccine.

“Although the hub is certainly an important initiative now and for future pandemic responses, the fastest way to start vaccine production in African countries and other regions with limited vaccine production remains the full and transparent transfer of vaccine know-how from already approved mRNA technologies to companies with existing capacity that can be retrofitted to produce mRNA vaccines,’ he says.

Premature that some countries plan to lift all measures

The World Health Organization (WHO) has drawn attention to the increase in deaths from covid that has been registered globally in the last four weeks and has warned that the omicron variant has not yet reached its peak, so He has considered it premature for some countries to plan to lift all prevention measures at the same time.

People without masks shopping at a market in Copenhagen (Denmark). EFE/EPA/LISELOTTE SABROE

Several countries in Europe plan to rescind several or all of the measures recommended by the WHO to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus in the near future, but experts have asked not to fall into overconfidence since although omicron tends to cause a less serious disease, its contagion capacity is much higher than the previous variants.

This is the case of Denmark that since this Tuesday it has eliminated all the restrictions imposed during its fourth wave, considering that the omicron variant does not imply a “danger” for its health or its inhabitants and despite the high levels of incidence, 5,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Thus, it is no longer an obligation to wear masks indoors, restrictions on restaurants, cultural and social life have disappeared, clubs and large events reopen.

Denmark thus becomes the first country in the European Union (EU) to lift all measures against the pandemic, as happened last September, although a few months later it began to reintroduce them as a result of the spread of the omicron variant.

WHO calls for caution

In the last ten weeks, coinciding with the start of the spread of omicron, 90 million new confirmed cases of covid-19 have been registered, more than in all of 2020, and this trend has begun to be reflected in deaths.

“We ask for caution because many countries have not reached the omicron peak yet: Several still have low levels of vaccination, with very vulnerable individuals within their population, so this is not the time to lift all measures at once, but to do it progressively, little by little,” said the head of the technical team to fight the pandemic at the WHO, María Van Kerkhove.

“This virus is very dynamic and although we know a lot about it, we still don’t know everything,” he told a news conference from WHO headquarters in Geneva.

The director of health emergencies, Mike Ryan, seconded his colleague, pointing out that not all countries are in the same position in the face of the pandemic, as some have high vaccination coverage and strong health systems, while other countries are in the opposite situation.

“A country cannot blindly follow what the neighboring country is doing. Each case is different and you should not give in to political pressure either,” said Ryan, who considered that the current phase could be considered “transitional.”

Reduce excess optimism

WHO Director-General Tedros A.Dhanom Ghebreyesus, said that “more infections necessarily mean more deaths”, so he asked not to fall into the narrative that vaccination combined with a less serious variant (ómicron) makes prevention measures unnecessary, such as the use of a mask or the quarantine of contacts of confirmed cases.

He asked everyone to remember that the virus continues to evolve “in front of our eyes” and that the same will have to happen with vaccines because the variants that have appeared and the next ones that will emerge could evade the immunity generated by vaccines made from previous variants.

Tedros noted that the who is in ongoing consultation with the immunization scientific community to assess the need for a vaccine that is effective against a broader spectrum of coronavirus variants.

What is known about subvariant BA.2?

Van Kerkhove said that the evolution of the BA.2 subvariant, which arose from ómicron and belongs to “the same family”, is being closely followed, since it is not the only one, but it is the one that has attracted the most attention recently because its incidence has accelerated in several countries.

“There is not much information available on this sub-variant yet (…) but there is preliminary information indicating that it could have a slightly higher transmission capacity than the BA.1,” he said, referring to the first omicron sub-variant known.

“People need to be aware that this virus continues to circulate and evolve, so it is important that we continue to take steps to reduce our exposure to any variant,” she said.

China’s Financial Diplomacy Wins Influence in Central Asian Countries

WASHINGTON — 

This year marks the 30th anniversary of China having established diplomatic ties with five central Asian countries. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan gained independence.

Three decades later, in the first week of January 2022, President Xi Jinping exchanged congratulatory messages with the presidents of the five states.

China’s influence in Central Asia has grown exponentially in recent decades as the five nations seek Chinese financing for everything from infrastructure projects to educational endeavors, according to Samantha Custer, director of policy analysis at AidData, a research lab at the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

She told VOA the main goal of Chinese financial diplomacy in the region is to gain “access to energy supplies and strategic positioning for transit routes.”

Custer said the five countries are of interest to Beijing for two main reasons: First, they offer access to ready supplies of energy via oil, natural gas, or hydropower; and secondly, potential Belt and Road initiative trade routes from China to Europe and the Middle East run through them.

“In keeping with this strategy, most of China’s financial diplomacy has been focused on the energy and transportation sectors,” Custer said.

Last month, in a new report titled Corridors of Power, Custer and her coauthors analyzed how China used massive financial assistance to win friends and allies across Central and South Asia.

According to the report, the Chinese government directed $127 billion in financial assistance across 13 countries in Central and South Asia over nearly two decades. The five countries in Central Asia are among the biggest recipients of Beijing’s financial assistance.

“Kazakhstan alone attracted 26% ($33 billion) of Beijing’s financial assistance dollars,” Custer said, adding these investments were heavily focused on the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline. “Turkmenistan was the second-largest Central Asian recipient of Chinese financing, worth $9 billion.”

Soft power investments

Even as Beijing emphasizes economics over soft power in Central Asia, it recognizes that these tools are most formidable when employed in concert, according to Custer.

“In this vein, Chinese leaders doubled down on soft power overtures via education, culture, exchange and media to foster people-to-people ties with Central Asian students and professionals over the last two decades,” Custer said, adding these efforts are important avenues to cultivate future markets for Chinese goods, services and capital in Central Asia.

In its bid to become a premier study-abroad destination for students from Central Asia, China offers less burdensome visa requirements than its competitors and financial assistance for education, according to the report.

“Kazakh and Kyrgyz students were top recipients of Chinese state-backed scholarships, and both countries received a large share of Beijing’s language and cultural promotion efforts in the form of Confucius Institutes at the university level and Confucius Classrooms at the primary and secondary school level,” Custer said.

Chinese leaders have also practiced city-level diplomacy to cultivate relationships with public and private sector leaders at the local level, according to the report.

“As a case in point: Turkmenistan’s Mary province received more money from Beijing over two decades than seven of the 13 countries in South and Central Asia,” Custer said. “Kazakhstan’s Atyrau, which received $5 billion, was the second-largest district-level recipient of Chinese state-backed financing in the entire region.”

Investing in security

China has also been investing in security in Central Asia, according to Emil Avdaliani, director of Middle East Studies at the Georgian think tank Geocase.

“Before, Russia was seen as the only and irreplaceable security provider,” Avdaliani said. “China has also penetrated the region. It operates a military base in Tajikistan, funds a new semi-military one there and has increased the number of drills with separate states in the region.”

Avdaliani said that even though China’s position in central Asian countries has evolved quite successfully, China still faces obstacles such as nationalism in the Central Asian states and political elites’ distrust of Beijing.

But the elite also sees that “the five states need China. They need investment, and in the longer run, they need China as a balancer against Russia,” Avdaliani told VOA in an email.

Beijing successfully uses this opportunity, and it is likely to continue in the future, he said.