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Indonesia receives WHO’s support in mRNA vaccine production
The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday that Indonesia, along with four other countries, will receive support from one of its mRNA technology transfer hubs in South Africa to locally manufacture mRNA vaccines.
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World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (second right) and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi (second left) in a press briefing on Feb. 23, 2022. The WHO has announced that Indonesia, along with four other countries, will receive support to facilitate the local manufacturing of mRNA vaccines. (Courtesy of Foreign Ministry/-)
T
he World Health Organization has expanded its transfer-of-technology initiative for vaccine production to five new countries, including Indonesia, in a move that is expected to boost global vaccine equity, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
The new beneficiaries from the initiative, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Serbia and Vietnam, are set to receive technical support from the WHO’s global messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology transfer hub in South Africa to manufacture their own mRNA vaccines.
The move came after the UN health agency announced earlier this month that it had chosen six African countries that will receive support from the South African hub to locally manufacture their own mRNA vaccine.
The hub in South Africa was established in July last year after the WHO implemented the decision to establish such a hub in a bid to scale up production and access to COVID-19 vaccines that comply with international standards.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus underlined the importance of increasing the capacity of low- and middle-income countries, which have been hindered by cost or human resource barriers that have prevented them from developing and manufacturing mRNA vaccines.
“The aim of the hub is to provide a facility where manufacturers from low- and middle-income countries can receive training in how to produce certain vaccines, and their licenses to do so,” he said on Wednesday, adding that the five new beneficiary countries were set to receive the training starting on July.
“We believe the mRNA technology-transfer hub holds huge promise, not just for increased access to vaccines against COVID-19, but for other diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis and cancer.”
