WASHINGTON, CMC – The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says that it is collaborating with the Government of Canada to strengthen manufacturing capacities to increase the “safe and timely access” to vaccines in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Through US$ 11.1 million funding provided by Global Affairs Canada (GAC), PAHO said it would reinforce its current work to enhance the existing regional vaccine production capacities, including manufacturing messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines against COVID-19 and other diseases.
“The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the severe impact of unequal access to vaccines and other health technologies,” said PAHO Director Dr. Jarbas Barbosa. “We thank Canada for supporting PAHO in this effort to expand and develop regional production capacities for medical products – an objective at the heart of our strategy to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and a key step towards achieving universal access to health.”
Dr. Barbosa also discussed the collaboration during a visit to PAHO headquarters here by Jason Tolland, Director General for South America and Inter-American Affairs at GAC.
“Canada is looking forward to implementing its CAN$15M support to PAHO’s COVID-19 Vaccine Manufacturing Platform to strengthen vaccine production capacities in Latin America and the Caribbean,” Tolland said. “Canada is committed to addressing barriers to equitable vaccine access by supporting regional manufacturing initiatives in low- and middle-income countries.
“We recognize the enormous potential of initiatives that promote local ownership and enable regions to address their own needs, not only for COVID-19 but also for other diseases,” he added.
PAHO said the Latin American and Caribbean region imports six times more pharmaceuticals than it exports, leaving it vulnerable to fluctuations in global supply, particularly during emergencies.
During the first years of the pandemic, PAHO said severe shortages of COVID-19 vaccines heightened the need to increase regional production rapidly.
The new initiative supported by the Government of Canada will promote activities to “foster an enabling environment for regional vaccine production,” including the promotion of greater coordination across countries and public and private partners and the strengthening of national regulatory systems and policies.
The health organization said the project would support PAHO’s Regional Platform for Advancing the Production of Vaccines and Other Health Technologies for COVID-19 in the Americas, including ongoing work with the mRNA Vaccine Technology Transfer Program.
“This multilateral collaboration by the World Health Organization, the Medicines Patent Pool, and other partners aims to facilitate mRNA vaccine manufacturing technology transfer to low- and middle-income countries,” said PAHO, adding that, currently, it includes two institutions in the region, Sinergium Biotech of Argentina and the Institute of Technology in Immunobiologicals Bio-Manguinhos of Brazil.
In the next two years, PAHO said it would assist Bio-Manguinhos in planning and implementing clinical trials for vaccine development and will support Sinergium Biotech in technology transfer and acquiring necessary equipment for vaccine production.
The organization also said it would produce a guide for establishing vaccine manufacturing pilot facilities, including critical inputs for developing business plans, technical brochures, and equipment and supply needs.
In addition, PAHO said it is working on selecting a regional training center and developing a tool to assess country readiness for vaccine development, as well as conducting several studies on topics such as COVID-19 mRNA vaccine patents in the region and health technology production value chain.
According to PAHO, Canada’s overall support to boosting manufacturing capacities for vaccines and medicines in low- and middle-income countries was announced last year by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the G20 Summit.
It adds to the broader support provided by Canada since 2021 to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines for populations in situations of vulnerability in the Americas through two contributions of CAN$50 million and CAN$45 million, delivered to PAHO in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
In the past years, PAHO has assisted 37 countries and territories in increasing access to COVID-19 vaccines, including in developing and implementing national plans for their deployment and use.
PAHO has also supported 32 countries and territories in expanding cold chain storage and transportation capacities, mainstreaming gender equality in all its work.
As part of these efforts, PAHO said 13 countries had implemented activities specifically focusing on gender and ethnicity, including actions to bring vaccines to remote communities.
These included workshops and knowledge dialogues to identify local perceptions about vaccines, explain the benefits of vaccines to communities, and empower women, girls, Indigenous and Afro-descendant people, and LGBT groups to communicate effectively about this issue through science-based and culturally appropriate content.
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