Wednesday, June 7, 2023
  • Login
Upgrade
The Southern African Times
  • Home
  • Southern Africa
  • Business
    • African Start ups
    • African Continental Free Trade Area
  • Tech
    • Lifestyle
      • Health
      • Culture
      • Food and Drink
      • Entertainment
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Events
  • SAT Jobs
  • About Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Southern Africa
  • Business
    • African Start ups
    • African Continental Free Trade Area
  • Tech
    • Lifestyle
      • Health
      • Culture
      • Food and Drink
      • Entertainment
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Events
  • SAT Jobs
  • About Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
The Southern African Times
No Result
View All Result
Home Just In

Billionaire Soon-Shiong opens new vaccine plant in South Africa

by SAT Reporter
January 19, 2022
in Just In
0
Billionaire Soon-Shiong opens new vaccine plant in South Africa
0
VIEWS

CAPE TOWN, (The Southern African Times) – South African-American businessman Patrick Soon-Shiong opened a new vaccine plant in Cape Town on Wednesday, intended to help his local NantSA company make COVID-19 shots in future and address the continent’s deadly dearth of manufacturing capacity.

The pandemic has exposed a global lack of access to life-saving vaccines, particularly in Africa, where just about 10% of the population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 compared to over half the world’s population.

“Africa should no longer be last in line to access vaccines against pandemics. Africa should no longer go cap in hand to the Western world, begging and begging for vaccines,” said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who attended the opening.

Soon-Shiong, who is also a medical doctor, will transfer technology and materials from his California-based NantWorks to scientists in South Africa, where they will also work on vaccines targeting cancer, TB and HIV.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong cut a ribbon, while Premier of the Western Cape Alan Winde looks on, during the launch of NantSA, a future vaccine manufacturing facility designed to accelerate the production of pharmaceuticals, in Cape Town, South Africa, January 19, 2022. REUTERS/Shelley Christians

“Greater self-sufficiency is essential,” Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa, said in a message of support for the plant, which aims to produce 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses a year by 2025.

Soon-Shiong said he would transfer bioreactors stockpiled at his U.S. factories, with first production of vaccines seen later this year. To ensure a pipeline of skilled workers, he has pledged 100 million rand ($6.5 million) for scholarships.

“We have now the capability to use the human capital of South Africans to build 21st century medicine,” Soon-Shiong told Ramaphosa, as he entered one of two warehouses, currently empty, in the semi-industrial area of Brackenfell near Cape Town.

Scientists in South Africa have been at forefront of combating the pandemic, alerting the world to both the Beta and Omicron variants of concern after detecting them quickly.

But health experts have warned obstacles, including electricity and water shortages that hamper manufacturing processes, must be tackled before Africa can wean itself off imported vaccines. read more 

Pharmaceutical firms, like Pfizer (PFE.N), as well as the WHO, have sought to bridge the gap in poorer countries’ access to vaccines by upgrading existing production lines or developing new manufacturing hubs. read more 

South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare (APNJ.J) makes Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ.N) COVID vaccine while part state-owned Biovac will start the final stages of production of Pfizer’s shot later this year. Cape Town also hosts a WHO manufacturing hub that is trying to copy Moderna’s (MRNA.O) COVID vaccine.

Another one of Soon-Shiong’s firms, ImmunityBio, is testing a novel coronavirus vaccine candidate in South Africa that looks at priming the body’s soldier T cells to kill the coronavirus.

Previous Post

Heritage land dispute over Amazon’s new Africa HQ goes to court

Next Post

Watch As Flares Are Set Off In The Crowd To Mark Liam Gallagher’s Arrival In Glasgow

SAT Reporter

Related Posts

World Bank Grants $70 Million to Empower Women in South Sudan
South Sudan

World Bank Grants $70 Million to Empower Women in South Sudan

by SAT Reporter
May 25, 2023
Kenyan businesses turn to Ethiopia as top foreign investment destination
Eastern Africa

Kenyan businesses turn to Ethiopia as top foreign investment destination

by SAT Reporter
May 10, 2023
Republican Investigator Releases Financial Records Related to Biden Family‘s Alleged Corruption
Just In

Republican Investigator Releases Financial Records Related to Biden Family‘s Alleged Corruption

by SAT Reporter
May 10, 2023
South Africa Raises Minimum Hourly Wage by 9.6% to $1.39
in Southern Africa

South Africa Raises Minimum Hourly Wage by 9.6% to $1.39

by SAT Reporter
February 22, 2023
Famous South African Artist “AKA” Shot Dead in Durban
Just In

Famous South African Artist “AKA” Shot Dead in Durban

by Leo Muzivoreva
February 17, 2023
Next Post

Watch As Flares Are Set Off In The Crowd To Mark Liam Gallagher’s Arrival In Glasgow

Browse by Category

  • African Continental Free Trade Area
  • African Debt
  • African Start ups
  • Algeria
  • Analysis
  • Angola
  • Asia
  • Botswana
  • BOTSWANA
  • BRICS
  • Burkina Faso
  • Burundi
  • Business
  • Business
  • Cameroon
  • Central Africa
  • China
  • Climate Change
  • Climate Changev
  • Congo Republic
  • COVID 19
  • CRYPTOCURRENCY
  • Culture
  • Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Eastern Africa
  • Education
  • Egypt
  • Energy
  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • Ethiopia
  • Europe
  • Fashion
  • Feature
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Food and Drink
  • Foods
  • Ghana
  • Global
  • Guinea
  • Health
  • Immigration
  • in Southern Africa
  • International news
  • Just In
  • Kenya
  • Lesotho
  • Libya
  • Life Style
  • Lifestyle
  • Malawi
  • Malawi
  • Mali
  • Markets
  • Middle East
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Nigeria
  • North Africa
  • North-Eastern Africa
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Racism
  • Rwanda
  • SAT Jobs
  • Senegal
  • Seychelles
  • South Africa
  • South Sudan
  • Sports
  • Startup Africa
  • STOCK EXCHANGE
  • Sustainablity
  • Tanzania
  • Tech
  • Togo
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Tunisia
  • Uganda
  • Uncategorized
  • West Africa
  • World
  • World
  • ZAMBIA
  • Zambia
  • ZIMBABWE
  • Zimbabwe

Browse by Tags

africa African business news Africa News african footballer African investments African news African start-up Agriculture banking Business China Classic Climate change Content currency economy Explore Bali Finance football Health Investment Kenya Life Style Markets Market Stories Nigeria oil and gas Opinion Pandemic Politics Premium Russia South Africa Southern African News sports Stay Home technology Travel United Kingdom United Stated Vaccine Work From Home Wuhan Zambia Zimbabwe

WHO WE ARE

The Southern African Times is a regional bloc digital newspaper that covers Southern African and the world news. The paper also gives a nuanced analysis on news and covers a wide range of reporting which include sports, entertainment, foreign affairs, arts and culture.

Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram Rss

Copyright © 2022 The Southern African Times | Powered by The Southern African Times

Privacy Policy

Terms and Conditions

  • Home
  • Southern Africa
  • Business
    • African Start ups
    • African Continental Free Trade Area
  • Tech
    • Lifestyle
      • Health
      • Culture
      • Food and Drink
      • Entertainment
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Events
  • SAT Jobs
  • About Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Contact Us

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?