Last week, South African healthcare received a double shot in the arm with the opening of a local vaccine manufacturing facility and the approval of a World Bank loan to bolster social safety nets and health systems.
On Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa and health technology billionaire Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong officially opened a new vaccine manufacturing facility in Brackenfell, Western Cape.
The South African-born entrepreneur has been strongly supporting local healthcare, with R3 billion invested to help SA share vaccine technology with the rest of Africa. His company, ImmunityBio, is developing a T-cell based universal COVID vaccine, currently in Phase III trials in SA. The same adenovirus vector technology it uses is also being tested in cancer vaccines.
“It has been a dream of mine, since I left the country as a young physician, to bring state-of-the-art, 21st century medical care to SA and to enable the country to serve as a scientific hub for the continent,” Dr Shoon-Siong had previously said. The technology transfer will help “establish much-needed capacity and self-sufficiency.”
The hub will transfer technology, know-how and materials for DNA, RNA, adjuvant vaccine platforms and cell therapies to SA.
“There is no reason we couldn’t make 500 million doses a year,” said Dr Soon-Shiong, who is also a Wits alumnus. “Subject to the raw material being available.”
He said he wants to tap the country’s expertise on prevalent diseases such as HIV and cervical cancer. “There are fantastic scientists with deep knowledge about these diseases,” he said. “More so than in America because they see these patients every day.”
President Ramaphosa and Dr Soon-Shiong also launched the Coalition to Accelerate Africa’s Access to Advanced Healthcare, which aims to drive the development of innovative therapeutics and ensure the continent is prepared for future pandemics.
The coalition aims to manufacture a billion doses of the COVID vaccine by 2025 and to develop treatments for conditions including cancer, COVID, tuberculosis and HIV.
South Africa also received approval from the World Bank for a US$750 million COVID relief loan aimed at reducing the worst of the pandemic’s impact on the poor.
“The World Bank budget support is coming at a critical time for us and will contribute towards addressing the financing gap stemming from additional spending in response to the COVID crisis,” said Dondo Mogajane, Director General of the National Treasury. “It will assist in addressing the immediate challenge of financing critical health and social safety net programs whilst also continuing to develop our economic reform agenda to build back better.”
Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla warned that South Africa will likely enter a fifth wave when cold temperatures in May, though what COVID variants may drive it remain to be seen.
