HEALTH
Regulator gives Biovac green light to manufacture vaccines
Local vaccine manufacture brought in to try to improve security of supply for SA and the region
The Biovac Institute (Biovac) has been awarded a manufacturing licence by a South African regulator, taking it one step closer to realising the government’s ambition of producing its own vaccines. Biovac is a public-private partnership that was formed in 2003 to try and revitalise the state’s human vaccine manufacturing capacity, after the demise of the state vaccine institute. Part of the rationale for local vaccine manufacture is to try to improve security of supply for SA and the region, as there are no significant vaccine manufacturers on the continent. SA has confronted numerous vaccine shortages recently, including the BCG inoculation, which is used to protect babies against tuberculosis. Biovac currently sources and distributes vaccines, and its biggest customer is the state, which runs a national programme for immunising infants and children. It also provides vaccines to the private sector. Childhood and pneumonia vaccines Biovac was notified by the Medicines Control Counc...
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