The “acute phase” of the Covid-19 pandemic will end this year if the target of 70% of the world’s population vaccinated is reached, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
“We expect an end to the acute phase of the pandemic this year, on the condition of course that 70% of the world’s population is vaccinated by the middle of the year, around June or July,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visiting South Africa, told reporters. “It’s in our hands (…) It’s a matter of choice,” he added.
The WHO official was visiting the labs of the Cape Town-based biotechnology company Afrigen, which manufactured the first messenger RNA vaccine against Covid-19 in Africa.
Developed from the sequencing of the publicly available genetic code from the Moderna laboratory, this vaccine will be ready for clinical trials in November, and its registration is scheduled for 2024.
“This vaccine will be more suitable for the settings in which it will be used, with fewer storage constraints and at a lower price,” Tedros said.
The Afrigen project is supported by the WHO and the international mechanism Covax for access to vaccines.
Ahmed Achour
