Inihayag ni WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sa European Union-African Union summit sa Brussels kanina, ang unang anim na bansa na tatanggap ng teknolohiyang kailangan para makagawa ng mga bakunang mRNA sa kontinente ng Africa. Ang Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa at Tunisia ay nag-apply at napili bilang mga tatanggap.
Ang anunsyo ay ginawa sa isang seremonya na pinangunahan ng European Council, France, South Africa at WHO kung saan ay dumalo sina Pangulong Emmanuel Macron ng France, Pangulong Cyril Ramaphosa ng South Africa, at ang Pangulo ng European Council na si Charles Michel.
Ang pandaigdigang mRNA technology transfer hub ay itinatag noong 2021 upang suportahan ang mga manufacturer sa low- and middle-income countries na makagawa ng sarili nilang mga bakuna, na may pagtiyak na magkakaroon sila ng lahat ng kinakailangang operating procedures at kaalaman sa paggawa ng mga bakunang mRNA sa scale na ayon sa international standards.
Depende sa imprastraktura, workforce at clinical research at kapasidad sa regulasyon, ang WHO at mga kasosyo nito ay makikipagtulungan sa mga bansang makikinabang upang bumuo ng isang roadmap at bigyan sila ng kinakailangang pagsasanay at suporta upang makapagsimula silang gumawa ng mga bakuna sa lalong madaling panahon.
“No other event like the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that reliance on a few companies to supply global public goods is limiting, and dangerous. In the mid- to long-term, the best way to address health emergencies and reach universal health coverage is to significantly increase the capacity of all regions to manufacture the health products they need, with equitable access as their primary endpoint,” ayon kay Ghebreyesus.
“This is an initiative that will allow us to make our own vaccines and that, to us, is very important. It means mutual respect, mutual recognition of what we can all bring to the party, investment in our economies, infrastructure investment and, in many ways, giving back to the continent,” ayon sa mensahe ni Ramaphosa.
“Improved public health benefits, supporting African health sovereignty and economic development are the principal goals of strengthening local production in Africa. In an interconnected world, we need stronger and new partnerships between countries, development partners and other stakeholders to empower regions and countries to fend for themselves, during crises, and in peace time,” ayon naman kay Macron.
“I am very glad to see this ambitious project move forward. We have been talking a lot about producing mRNA vaccines in Africa. But this goes even beyond. This is mRNA technology designed in Africa, led by Africa and owned by Africa, with the support of Team Europe,” ayon sa pahayag ni President Ursula von der Leyen ng European Commission.
Upang matiyak na ang lahat ng mga bansa ay makakabuo ng kinakailangang kapasidad sa paggawa ng sariling bakuna at iba pang health technologies, ang WHO ay patuloy na nagtatrabaho upang makapagtatag ng isang biomanufacturing workforce training hub na magbibigay ng pagsasanay ukol sa scientific and clinical research and production capacity at production capacity sa mga tauhan ng lahat ng interesadong bansa. Ang training hub ay iaanunsyo sa mga darating na linggo.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
