Six African countries to receive mRNA vaccine technology

Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia will be the first African countries to receive the technology required to produce mRNA vaccines on the continent

The first African countries selected to receive the technology necessary to produce mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 are Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia, a summit meeting of European Union and African Union nations heard on Friday.

The six countries have been chosen to build vaccine production factories as part of a bid the World Health Organization launched last year to replicate what are believed to be the most effective licensed shots against COVID-19.

Africa currently produces just 1% of coronavirus vaccines. According to WHO figures, only 11% of the population in Africa is fully vaccinated, compared with the global average of about 50%.

WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the Brussels summit meeting that although more than 10 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally, billions of people still remain unvaccinated.

“The tragedy, of course, is that billions of people are yet to benefit from these life-saving tools," he said, calling for an urgent increase of local production of shots in poor countries.

It is the first time WHO has supported efforts to reverse-engineer a commercially-sold vaccine, making an end run around the pharmaceutical industry that has largely prioritized supplying rich countries over poor in both sales and manufacturing.

The U.N.-backed effort known as COVAX to distribute COVID-19 vaccines fairly to lower-income countries has missed numerous targets and only about 10% of people in poorer countries have received at least one dose.