A newly published report has highlighted the steps that need to be taken to close the significant gap between the current less-than-1% of vaccine doses supplied to African countries that are African-manufactured, and the goal of reaching 60% by 2040, as envisioned by Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM).

The report, titled ‘Scaling up African vaccine manufacturing capacity’, which was put together by UK charity foundation Wellcome, South African biopharmaceutical company Biovac and global management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), noted several major risks that African vaccine manufacturers have identified that pose significant challenges to the desired economic viability of the industry.

The report outlined the challenges that African vaccine manufacturers face and what kind of support they need to ramp up African vaccine manufacturing.

“There has been unprecedented global and continental mobilisation to improve Africa’s access to vaccines and bolster the African vaccine-manufacturing ecosystem in the last 24 months,” BCG South Africa MD and senior partner Jan Gildemeister said during a webinar on the report on June 1.

However, the challenges put forward, including sustainability, and strategic and support concerns, would require immediate attention and collaborative action to ensure long-term success in African vaccine manufacturing, the report co-author said.

The sustainability risk, referred to as the “high-price and low-volume trap” by global health partnership Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, continues to persist in the African manufacturing landscape. This is because the African vaccine-manufacturing industry remains in its very early stages, Gildemeister explained, with most African manufacturers making it clear that they are not profitable yet.

“They can’t secure the necessary funding and volumes to manufacture at scale, leading to higher prices and lower volumes,” he said.

The report states that several measures are needed to break free from this historical dynamic and establish a more sustainable pricing structure. Additionally, the lack of coordination among manufacturing initiatives increases the risk of overcapacity, emphasising the need for better alignment and strategic planning.

“Concrete measures need to be put in place to address the challenges holding African manufacturers back and create the conditions for a sustainable ecosystem. Creating a robust business model, identifying strategic priorities and enabling sufficient support structures requires collective action and commitment from all stakeholders to expand vaccine access and safeguard the future of the African vaccine manufacturing sector,” Biovac science and innovation head and African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative executive director Patrick Tippoo said.

In terms of strategic risk, he added that African manufacturers needed to prioritise which vaccines and technology platforms they should focus on in the short and mid term.

This decision will require careful consideration of various factors, including the complexity of manufacturing a product and the current and future global supply and demand. In this regard, strategic planning and informed decision-making would be essential to ensure the efficient allocation of resources and maximise impact.

The support risk arises from the potential decrease in attention and efforts from national, continental and global stakeholders as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to recede, Wellcome vaccine research lead Deborah King said.

This decline in support poses a challenge to the sustained growth and development of the African vaccine manufacturing sector.

Gildemeister noted that the past 18 months saw many promising announcements and initiatives aimed at developing vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa. However, there remained a need to demonstrate the economic viability and overcoming of significant risks for the long-term success of the strategy.

In response to these kinds of concerns, the partners who produced the report issued a call to action, outlining key steps that needed to be taken to adequately address the relevant risks and accelerate change.

Gildemeister noted that African governments needed to prioritise continental supply, even if it entailed higher costs, and to establish a supportive economic and regulatory environment that encouraged investment and growth in the vaccine manufacturing sector.