Covid-19 vaccine: SA’s biggest challenge will be affordability and storage – experts
German company BioNTech and US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer this week announced their vaccine outperformed expectations in phase three trials and proved to be 90% effective.
President Vladimir Putin said Russia had become the first country to register a coronavirus vaccine, though the announcement was met with caution from scientists and the World Health Organization who said it still needed a rigorous safety review. Russian Direct Investment Fund/AFP/File/Handout
So near and yet so far, is how a local scientist yesterday described how South Africa has progressed in its aim of having a Covid-19 vaccine – likely to be available in most countries middle next year.
German company BioNTech and US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer this week announced their vaccine outperformed expectations in phase three trials and proved to be 90% effective.
President Cyril Ramaphosa this week announced Johnson & Johnson had entered into a preliminary agreement with a local pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare to manufacture and package its candidate vaccine.
“The most important part of access to the vaccine is mass production,” said SA Medical Research Council president Dr Glenda Gray.
“When they start producing vaccines for SA and Africa, that would be very significant. The best deal we can get is a good price and rights to produce the vaccine locally. If Pfizer enters into an agreement with the government, our best bet is to get as many vaccines that work as possible.”
“But the biggest challenge will be affordability and storage, because you have to keep it at -700C.”
– brians@citizen.co.za
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