Ambitious vaccine plan requires different training approach

Africa has committed to increasing vaccines manufactured on the continent from 1% to 60% by 2040 through development and scaling up of manufacturing capacity.

The ambitious plan includes training the African workforce and acquiring research institutions’ support for developing research hubs.

Human resources is a strong pillar of vaccine manufacturing because it involves making a product safe by following procedures and applying them in a systematic way, according to Dr Amadou Alpha Sall, CEO of Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Senegal, and director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Arbovirus and Hemorrhagic Fevers.

Sall was speaking at a meeting on 14 October 2021 organised by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, or Africa CDC, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Vaccine manufacturing efforts in Africa are largely driven by the platform created by Africa CDC through partnerships with the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI), African governments and other players.

Universities to be empowered

In terms of training the African workforce for vaccine manufacturing, the meeting heard that there is a need for a solid curriculum, internships and training, and collaboration.

It is also important to empower African universities in applied research and development and to link them with the vaccine manufacturing industry, said Dr Heba Wali, president of the state-run Holding Company for Biological products and Vaccines, or VACSERA, in Egypt.

African vaccine manufacturing will also require a different approach to training, particularly in the field of biomanufacturing, and understanding the role of research institutions in supporting research hubs and providing internships and training through universities.

However, although training can take place at African universities, specialisation might require tapping into the diaspora, and vaccine manufacturers must support the training programmes.

Sall explained to the meeting what they at the Institut Pasteur in Dakar learned in vaccine manufacturing. The institute is the only WHO prequalified institution on the continent involved in developing a vaccine and has apprenticeship programmes.

According to their experience, vaccine manufacturing requires diverse skills ranging from regulatory, quality assessment, quality control, and understanding of the market.

The African workforce to be trained for vaccine manufacturing must have a cross-sectional view of vaccine manufacturing through theoretical training and hands-on practical experience. This requires spending time in different departments, learning about aspects such as quality assessment, quality assurance, regulatory systems and good manufacturing practices.

“We are talking about trying to get someone to understand a culture and be part of that culture of working together as a team and to keep learning from more experienced teammates,” Sall said. This has an impact on the product.

African funding needed

The vaccine manufacturing industry will also require research and research hubs funded from within the continent as well as internationally.

“Frankly, funding could be better organised on the continent. I would love to see leaders of African countries appreciating the way in which this kind of investment is both good for health and good for the economy, making that a priority,” said Dr Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, US.

“For too long, we have had research on the African continent driven by funding from outside. It’s been a kind of colonial model,” he added.

“We need to go from donorship to ownership where African countries and their leaders embrace vaccine manufacturing as a priority.

“We’re glad to help, but I don’t want to continue the model where somehow all the decisions are being made by priorities from outside the continent because they come and they go and they may not be well-matched with what’s needed,” Collins said.

The meeting also heard that, to build training in African vaccine manufacturing, collaboration and understanding the collaborative approach are key.

“In terms of COVID-19, for example, it’s these partnerships that we can secure so that we already transfer a tried and tested, proven technology into our African facilities, and we can hit the road running. So, we need to get this balance right,” said Dr Patrick Tippo, head of science and innovation at Biovac and executive director of AVMI.

This entails collaboration between academia, industry and national regulatory authorities to teach trainees what to look for when they are doing inspection at facilities, and how to support the regulatory environment. It is also about collaborating with the WHO to align local and regional standards.

“If we don’t have the capacity to develop our own products, workforce and technologies, then we are forever going to be dependent on someone else to give it to us. We have to break the cycle of dependency,” Tippo said.