Over 60 African civil society organisations have written an open letter to Moderna, calling on the biotech company to immediately withdraw the mRNA vaccine patents it has filed.
The open letter addressed to Moderna's CEO Stéphane Bancel and co-founder Noubar Afeyan, states that the patents pose long-term barriers to the supply of messenger RNA vaccines and diversifying the continent's local production.
Organisations backing the call include Médecins Sans Frontières or Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Section 27, Health Justice Initiative, and Global Justice Now.
“Analysis shows that there are a number of capable manufacturers which meet both the technical requirements and quality standards to manufacture mRNA vaccines. However, Moderna’s refusal to share the technology, and opting instead to build its own facility from scratch, further delays access to these life-saving vaccines,” said the organisations.
Scientists at Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines in Cape Town are currently working on a locally produced Covid-19 vaccine based on available data on the composition of the Moderna vaccine.
Moderna has refused to issue non-exclusive licences for use in South Africa and other African countries, which the coalition of civil society groups says, is “continuously putting Africa last in line”.
In June last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) selected South Africa to host the first mRNA Technology Transfer Hub to fast track the supply of vaccines to the rest of the continent, as well as other low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs).
Director-General of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visited the Hub over the weekend and congratulated the country on its leadership throughout the pandemic and for swiftly identifying new Covid-19 variants.
“The new hub is not just for South Africa, it provides a one stop shop for low- and middle-income countries across the world to benefit from the technology transferred, along with the know-how, so they can also produce mRNA vaccines,” he said.
The civil society organisations in the open letter say Moderna’s patents in South Africa have created legal risks and uncertainties for any outputs of the Hub.
“It is time that Moderna acts in the interests of people, not profits, and immediately agree to allow the Hub; the freedom to continue its vital work now, will help to potentially develop vaccines against other high burden diseases in Africa, such as tuberculosis (TB), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Malaria,” said the coalition.
We and other Civil society groups in South Africa have written an open letter to call on @moderna_tx to immediately withdraw the #mRNAvaccine patents it has filed in South Africa and to provide technical expertise to the @WHOAFRO mRNA Hub in SA.https://t.co/Yam1w29tT9 A thread👇 pic.twitter.com/XOHl6eq8Y0
— MSF Southern Africa (@MSF_southafrica) February 14, 2022