June 7, 2022, SEOUL, Republic of Korea — The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) held the 2022 EAPD-IVI Online Vaccine Symposium today to support the advancement of vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa.
The symposium highlighted challenges and opportunities for African vaccine manufacturing and presented practical guidance and lessons learned from similar undertakings in resource-limited settings.
Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI; Ambassador Mohamed Khalil, Secretary General of EAPD; and Mr. Lee Kang-ho, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare of the Republic of Korea, welcomed participants to the symposium and Dr. Birkneh Tilahun Tadesse, Senior Research Scientist at IVI, moderated the event.
Following presentations on vaccine research, development, manufacturing and licensure, panelists discussed pathways to a sustainable business model.
Presentations included:
- “Processes of vaccine technical transfer” by Dr. Ravi Ganapathy, Director CMC R&D, Hilleman Laboratories Singapore
- “Clinical research in resource-limited settings” by Dr. Tarun Saluja, Research Scientist, IVI
- “Importance of securing WHO classification of National Regulatory Authorities as ‘Functional NRAs’” by Ms. Delese Mimi Darko, Chief Executive Officer, Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana
- “Epidemiology and health economics” by Dr. Kaja Abbas, Assistant Professor of Disease Modeling, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
The panel discussion moderated by Dr. Youngmee Jee, Chief Executive Officer of Institut Pasteur Korea, featured:
- Duncan Steele, Deputy Director, Global Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Nakorn Premsri, Director, National Vaccine Institute, Thailand
- Agnès Buzyn, Executive Director, World Health Organization Academy
- Patrick Tippoo, Head of Science and Innovation, Biovac Institute, South Africa and Founding Member of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative
Dr. Heba Wali, VACSERA Chairman, Egyptian Holding Company of Biological Products and Vaccines closed the event with her remarks.
Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI, said: “Today’s symposium brings together a diverse group of global health and vaccine experts to address the technological, regulatory, and market challenges associated with establishing sustainable vaccine manufacturing in Africa…For 25 years, IVI has worked closely with researchers and health professionals across the African region to develop capacity in disease surveillance, clinical trial management, and vaccine introduction. I hope today’s conversation will serve as a launch pad for further collaborative efforts to make African vaccine manufacturing a reality.”
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About the International Vaccine Institute (IVI)
The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a nonprofit inter-governmental organization established in 1997 at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, IVI was the first international organization hosted by Korea. IVI has 39 countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) on its treaty, including Korea, Sweden, India, and Finland as state funders.
Our mandate is to make vaccines available and accessible for the world’s most vulnerable people. We focus on infectious diseases of global health importance such as cholera, typhoid, shigella, salmonella, schistosomiasis, Group A Strep, Hepatitis A, HPV, TB, HIV, MERS, COVID-19, as well as antimicrobial resistance. For more information, please visit https://www.ivi.int
CONTACT
Aerie Em, Global Communications & Media Specialist
+82 2 881 1386 | aerie.em@ivi.int