African science to support vaccine sovereignty
- Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ University
It's African Vaccination Week 2026 in SA from 24 to 30 April and scientists here aim to go beyond fill and finish.
Scientists at the Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½/SAMRC Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit (AGTRU) are helping to build some of the upstream scientific capabilities, beyond the current “fill-and-finish” work, that Africa will need to produce more of its own vaccines.
The continent’s annual vaccine demand could rise to 2.7 billion doses by 2040, yet less than 1% of the vaccines used in Africa are currently produced domestically.
AGTRU’s vaccine technologies include next-generation mRNA approaches, viral vector technologies, and locally derived lipid nanoparticles made from a bio renewable waste product – cashew nutshells. These will be vital to Africa’s end-to-end vaccine production aspirations and the Africa CDC’s target of producing 60% of its vaccine needs by 2040.
“We saw during Covid-19 how vulnerable we were as a continent in terms of securing enough vaccines. But AGTRU’s research and development, testing systems, platform technologies and delivery materials, all homegrown, are vital parts of the manufacturing ecosystem,” says Professor Abdullah Ely, Director of AGTRU.
AGTRU’s work on next-generation mRNA vaccines demonstrated how quickly vaccine platforms could be designed and updated.
Dr Kristie Bloom, a senior researcher at AGTRU, is investigating whether mRNA vaccine approaches can generate the kinds of immune responses needed to tackle tuberculosis (TB) more effectively. Bloom’s work forms part of a wider effort to build vaccine platforms that are not tied to a single disease, but can be adapted as public health needs change.
“Our technology needs to be flexible enough to respond to whatever comes next. We are building a platform that could be directed towards multiple infectious threats,” says Bloom.
To deliver mRNA into cells for a variety of applications, the team is working with an unexpected source: discarded cashew nutshells, which are abundant across Africa. Working together with the Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½ School of Chemistry, AGTRU has developed ionisable lipids derived from cashew nutshell liquid for use in lipid nanoparticles. Lipid nanoparticles are the microscopic carriers of next-generation vaccines that deliver mRNA into cells.
A major roadblock on the path to vaccine sovereignty is that local production still depends heavily on imported materials, technologies and intellectual property.
“We see how necessary locally sourced and made vaccine-enabling materials are. Our ‘green’ lipids are also more sustainable and cheaper than the traditional petrochemical-based alternatives,” adds Ely.
The unit has also looked into viral vectors, which AGTRU senior researcher Professor Betty Maepa has described as especially suited to African contexts because they are simpler, safer and more accessible. Viral vector systems are lab-modified viruses to deliver vaccine or therapeutic sequences into cells, but without using the full disease-causing virus.
“By reducing dependence on scarce, expensive high-containment laboratories, such systems could widen participation in vaccine testing and help more African institutions build the scientific skills needed for vaccine development,” says Maepa.
If researchers can study infection and test vaccine or antiviral candidates in biosafety level 2 labs, rather than relying only on more restrictive biosafety level 3 settings, virology and vaccine research can be expedited. “More institutions can thus test candidates safely, study infection and build expertise. Encouragingly, the scientific base on which manufacturing depends begins to widen,” says Maepa.
For Africa CDC’s vaccine ambitions to become a reality, the continent will need more than production lines. It will need the science, skills, tools and technologies that support vaccine development from the earliest stages. AGTRU’s work across viral vectors, mRNA, and locally made lipid nanoparticles points to what that broader manufacturing ecosystem could look like: one in which African scientists are not just filling and finishing vaccines, but also helping to design, test, and enable them.