Gates Foundation Helps mRNA Vaccine Development in Africa
2023-10-17
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1The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced last week that it will invest $40 million in African drug makers.
2The money will help produce new messenger RNA vaccines in Africa.
3The continent's people were the last to receive vaccinations against COVID-19 during the pandemic.
4The foundation said that its investment marks an important step forward in improving vaccine equity.
5It said making vaccines and getting them approved for use could take at least three more years.
6"Whether it's for local diseases in Africa like Rift Valley (fever) or for global diseases like TB (tuberculosis), mRNA looks like a very promising approach," Bill Gates told the Associated Press.
7The Microsoft founder added, during a visit to the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal, "And so it allows us to bring in lots of African capabilities to work on these vaccines, and then this can be scaled up."
8The announcement came as the foundation opened its yearly three-day Grand Challenges event.
9The gathering brought together scientists and public health researchers from around the world.
10Institut Pasteur, along with South Africa-based company Biovac, will be using an mRNA research and manufacturing process developed by Quantoom Biosciences in Belgium.
11The foundation is giving five million dollars to each vaccine manufacturer.
12It will award another $10 million to other companies not yet identified.
13The remaining $20 million is going to Quantoom "to further advance the technology and lower costs."
14Pfizer and its partner BioNTech along with Moderna used the mRNA technology to develop COVID-19 vaccines in record time.
15The medicine supplies genetic direction to human cells leading to antibody production to fight COVID-19.
16Those COVID-19 mRNA vaccines were quickly pushed through approval processes and received emergency use permission during the pandemic.
17The new vaccines under development in Africa will take longer anywhere from three to seven years.
18Dr. Amadou Sall is chief executive officer at Institut Pasteur.
19He said the deal will help build vaccine self-reliance in Africa.
20The organization has been producing yellow fever shots since the 1930s.
21It now hopes mRNA technology can be used to produce vaccines for other diseases in Africa including Lassa fever, Rift Valley fever, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.
22"What we want is next time there is a pandemic - we hope it won't happen soon - Africa would be able to make its own vaccine, to contribute to the development, and make sure that we protect the population," Sall said.
23"What happened with COVID should never happen again in the sense that Africans should get vaccinated as a matter of equity."
24Jose Castillo is the leader of Quantoom Biosciences.
25He said the mRNA technologies permit low- and middle-income countries "to become autonomous in terms of research and development."
26With $8.3 billion to give away in 2023, the Gates Foundation is the world's largest private philanthropic donor.
27The organization has spent billions of dollars to vaccinate against polio, treat and prevent malaria and HIV and, more recently, to develop vaccines for diseases like cholera.
28I'm Caty Weaver.
1The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced last week that it will invest $40 million in African drug makers. The money will help produce new messenger RNA vaccines in Africa. The continent's people were the last to receive vaccinations against COVID-19 during the pandemic. 2The foundation said that its investment marks an important step forward in improving vaccine equity. It said making vaccines and getting them approved for use could take at least three more years. 3"Whether it's for local diseases in Africa like Rift Valley (fever) or for global diseases like TB (tuberculosis), mRNA looks like a very promising approach," Bill Gates told the Associated Press. 4The Microsoft founder added, during a visit to the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal, "And so it allows us to bring in lots of African capabilities to work on these vaccines, and then this can be scaled up." 5The announcement came as the foundation opened its yearly three-day Grand Challenges event. The gathering brought together scientists and public health researchers from around the world. 6Institut Pasteur, along with South Africa-based company Biovac, will be using an mRNA research and manufacturing process developed by Quantoom Biosciences in Belgium. 7The foundation is giving five million dollars to each vaccine manufacturer. It will award another $10 million to other companies not yet identified. The remaining $20 million is going to Quantoom "to further advance the technology and lower costs." 8Pfizer and its partner BioNTech along with Moderna used the mRNA technology to develop COVID-19 vaccines in record time. The medicine supplies genetic direction to human cells leading to antibody production to fight COVID-19. 9Those COVID-19 mRNA vaccines were quickly pushed through approval processes and received emergency use permission during the pandemic. The new vaccines under development in Africa will take longer anywhere from three to seven years. 10Dr. Amadou Sall is chief executive officer at Institut Pasteur. He said the deal will help build vaccine self-reliance in Africa. The organization has been producing yellow fever shots since the 1930s. It now hopes mRNA technology can be used to produce vaccines for other diseases in Africa including Lassa fever, Rift Valley fever, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. 11"What we want is next time there is a pandemic - we hope it won't happen soon - Africa would be able to make its own vaccine, to contribute to the development, and make sure that we protect the population," Sall said. "What happened with COVID should never happen again in the sense that Africans should get vaccinated as a matter of equity." 12Jose Castillo is the leader of Quantoom Biosciences. He said the mRNA technologies permit low- and middle-income countries "to become autonomous in terms of research and development." 13With $8.3 billion to give away in 2023, the Gates Foundation is the world's largest private philanthropic donor. The organization has spent billions of dollars to vaccinate against polio, treat and prevent malaria and HIV and, more recently, to develop vaccines for diseases like cholera. 14I'm Caty Weaver. 15Krista Larson reported this story for The Associated Press. Hai Do adapted the story for Learning English. 16________________________________________________ 17Words in This Story 18global - adj. involving the entire world 19allow - v. to permit, let 20scale up - phrasal verb. to increase the size of something 21advance - v. to move forward 22contribute - v. to help to cause something to happen 23autonomous - adj. existing or acting separately from others 24philanthropic - adj. relating to the practice of giving money or time to help make life better for others