Vaccine Makers Must Help the World Prepare for the Next Pandemic
Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech should be lending expertise to a South African effort to create new mRNA shots.
One small step for global vaccine development.
Photographer: Benoit Doppagne/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty ImagesA South African biotech company has recreated small quantities of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. Its achievement, done in partnership with the World Health Organization, is part of a broader plan to help low- and middle-income countries become less reliant on U.S. and European drug makers, which have been slow to send their vaccines.
The WHO is investing $100 million over five years to develop an mRNA hub in South Africa, with expertise centered at Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines. Afrigen is expected to share the know-how it develops with other countries eager to establish their own vaccine infrastructure. Brazil and Argentina are next in line.