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Another vaccine could soon be available in South Africa.
Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images
- Aspen Pharmacare could begin production of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines in South Africa in late March or early April.
- All vaccines produced will be exported to J&J.
- Aspen currently has the capacity to manufacture up to 300 million doses of the vaccine.
Aspen Pharmacare could begin production of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Covid-19 vaccines in South Africa in late March or early April if all approvals are in place, a senior company executive said.
All vaccines produced will be exported to J&J and will be part of its global supply inventory, said Stavros Nicolaou, Senior Group Executive, Strategic Trade in Aspen.
“We are going to receive a technology transfer to contract to manufacture them (J&J) … Aspen currently has the capacity to manufacture up to 300 million doses of [the] Covid-19 vaccine, “Nicolaou said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday, adding that these would be exported to J&J.
The South African government is in talks with J&J in an effort to secure some of this product for its own consumption. J&J is in the final phase of its clinical trials and is likely to announce the results in late January, Nicolaou added.
J&J did not respond to an email from Reuters seeking comment. The South African Ministry of Health did not respond to an email seeking comment.
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The government has been criticized by scientists and health workers for acting too slowly in obtaining Covid-19 vaccines to inoculate South Africans.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Thursday that South Africa plans to receive its first vaccines in February and could vaccinate up to 40 million people over a year to achieve herd immunity.
But the government has not signed large bilateral agreements with any of the vaccine manufacturers, although it said the country would receive 1.5 million vaccines from the Serum Institute of India (SII).
The government is also sourcing vaccines from the Covax Facility, a global distribution scheme under which South Africa will begin receiving vaccines by the second quarter of 2021 for 10% of its population of 58 million.
Nicolaou said he was not aware of the status of the negotiations, but that the government had requested that Aspen “insist” on J&J to drop some vaccines.
