Building a sustainable vaccine manufacturing sector in Africa
By Rishabh Jhol
Dear readers,
Building on our newsletter last week on Network Capital members doing interesting things, today’s newsletter comes from Network Capital Patron, Rishabh Jhol. Rishabh is a Technical Advisor at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, where he focuses on supporting African Vaccine Manufacturing through market shaping initiatives to establish a sustainable vaccine manufacturing ecosystem.
Why I left full-time Journalism to explore the world of Climate change..
Dear readers, The one thing that unites all Network Capital members is their ability to chart unconventional paths and live life like the adventure it’s meant to be. Today’s newsletter comes from one such person. But before we get to that, read our about Patron Prateek Jain’s adventures in the Amazon
He recently coauthored an important white paper outlining a continental market-shaping strategy for a sustainable vaccine manufacturing footprint in Africa. This comprehensive document distils the intricate realities of the African vaccine ecosystem in Africa and recommends market-shaping interventions to foster robust and sustainable continental manufacturing.
On Network Capital, we love exploring ways in which we can scale ourselves and our ideas. Writing is one such way.
Context
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of local manufacturing to ensure vaccine supplies during times of emergency. Export restrictions, hoarding, and nationalism meant that even relatively wealthy countries struggled to procure COVID-19 vaccine doses from outside their borders.
African nations were some of the last to receive sufficient COVID-19 vaccine doses. Less than 1% of all the routine vaccine doses administered in Africa in any given year are manufactured on the continent, leaving African countries in a vulnerable position in terms of pandemic preparedness. To mitigate these risks and spur economic growth, the African Union and The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), through the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) initiative, have set an ambitious target for 60% of vaccine doses administered in Africa to be manufactured on the continent by 2040.