• Gavi publishes plan of action to support the development of sustainable vaccine manufacturing in Africa

• Developed in technical consultation with African Union Commission (AUC), Africa CDC, G7 and a range of partners, plan aims to outline ways in which Gavi and other stakeholders could help realize the AU’s 2040 vision

• Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi: “This plan published today provides a pathway to ensuring vaccine supply security for Africa during pandemics and expanding access to other life-saving vaccines at sustainable, affordable prices.”

Geneva, 3 November 2022 – Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance today published a 10-point plan outlining key priorities to achieve the African Union (AU) vision of sustainably expanding vaccine manufacturing capacity across Africa by 2040. The plan is a response to the AU call to action for Gavi and other stakeholders to concretely support supply security on the continent.

Developed following several months of technical consultation with the AU and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), as well as a wide range of supporting stakeholders including civil society organizations, WHO, UNICEF, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), governments of Germany, India and Indonesia, European Commission, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, European Investment Bank, GIZ, International Finance Corporation, and US International Development Finance Corporation, the plan proposes actions for Gavi and other international organizations, private sector, G7 Development Ministers, and African countries to contribute to a new business model that sustainably invests across the full value chain of the African vaccine industry, in a manner that is consistent with both the AU’s vision and G7 policy commitments.

“For 22 years, as the largest buyer of vaccines in the world, Gavi has worked closely with African countries and manufacturers to favorably shape the market for essential routine and outbreak vaccines,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “Gavi is committed to contribute to the AU’s vision. The plan published today provides a pathway to ensuring vaccine supply security for Africa during pandemics and expanding access to other life-saving vaccines at sustainable, affordable prices.”

More sustainable supply and demand for Africa

Despite high regional demand for vaccines valued at over US$ 1 billion annually, Africa’s vaccine industry provides only 0.1% of global supply. Vaccine inequity and hoarding at the start of the pandemic, which resulted in delays in obtaining COVID-19 doses, stimulated new resolve to address future supply security. In 2021, the AU set a target to produce and supply more than 60% of the vaccine doses on the continent by 2040.

In the last 18 months alone, more than 30 new African manufacturing projects have been announced and estimates indicate that the African vaccine market across all existing and projected novel products could range between US$ 2.8 billion and US$ 5.6 billion by 2040*, demonstrating the potential for a thriving regional industry to emerge.

African countries are highly empowered to realize the AU’s vision. As the largest purchaser of vaccines in the world, Gavi’s procurements are shaped by country request. Therefore, ensuring robust demand as well as supply for African-manufactured vaccines will be critical in creating a sustainable market.
In addition to procurement, Gavi can support the AU’s vision in the following ways:

• Helping optimize the allocation of resources by providing strategic insight on areas of market opportunity.
• Updating its market shaping strategy to place a higher value on the benefits of diversification to supply security, with a focus on Africa.
• The plan also outlines a potential framework for a time-limited financial instrument that can help mitigate the high cost of vaccine production at market entry. Through this instrument, combined with strategic selection of antigens and a supportive Gavi market shaping framework, new African manufacturers can be supported to produce for the most commercially-viable vaccines, helping to secure accelerated, competitive entry where there is unmet need. This instrument would follow in the footsteps of the Advanced Market Commitments (AMCs) developed by Gavi for both the pneumococcal vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccines.

Aligning the actions of donors and African countries

Key actions outlined for G7 economies include focusing investments on a sustainable supply of vaccines that would benefit from additional manufacturers, matched with accelerated support to vaccine-access, and potentially backing the Advanced Market Commitment with funding.

To sustainably reach that goal, the plan also underscores that countries, coordinated by the Africa CDC as part of the Partnership for Africa Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM), can contribute by building plans for vaccine manufacturing that match industry capacity with the specific needs of African markets for priority vaccines. Sustained investment in human capital, improving regulatory capacity, reducing trade barriers and strong regional coordination will also be a critical part of this effort.

*Modelling by the Clinton Health Access Initiative based on WHO and Linksbridge data

MEDIA CONTACTS

Meg Sharafudeen
+41 79 711 55 54
msharafudeen@gavi.org

Cirũ Kariũki
+41 79 913 94 41
ckariuki@gavi.org

Laura Shevlin
+ 41 79 529 92 87
lshevlin@gavi.org

Collins Weru Mwai  
+25 078 783 66 38
cmwai@gavi.org

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