DURBAN - A NUMBER of locally made candidate vaccines – including one for Covid-19 – received a boost recently after a landmark grant was awarded by the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (Chieta).
It announced an investment of R3.5 million for what it said was muchneeded research and skills transfer, which is being headed by Professor
Markus Depfenhart at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) and North-West University.
Depfenhart has been involved at both institutions in the development of vaccines and pandemic management interventions in Africa.
Chieta’s role is to facilitate skills development as well as to ensure that skills needs are identified and addressed through training initiatives.
Chieta’s chief executive Yershen Pillay said vaccine development was a scarce skill on the African continent.
“Locally made vaccines give us the best chance of improving our pandemic management. Only by starting with local vaccine design and formulation – created to suit our conditions – will SA and the African continent end up manufacturing on the continent, and have security of supply in times of a pandemic,” said Pillay.
Pillay said a local vaccine might hold considerable commercial and social impact value.
The organisation said the grant was aimed to develop significant local skills and could lead to local manufacturing, expansion, distribution and/or supply.
“Just as with Sars, Mers and H1N1 ‘swine flu’ viruses, Covid-19 was not the first virus to disrupt our world in this lifetime – and it won’t be the last. Bolstering our local competency in the fields of vaccine development and pandemic management will surely pay off in the long run.
“It is crucial to invest in these skills now,” said Pillay.
Chieta said a memorandum of agreement had been signed with WSU to conduct pre-clinical trials to test the candidate Covid-19 vaccines.
WSU’s vice-chancellor, Professor Rushiella Nolundi Songca, said the collaboration was not only for the Covid-19 pandemic, but included other viruses such as malaria.
“Covid-19 is one of the first viruses that we will be engaging with,” said Songca.
THE MERCURY