WHO: S. Africa vaccine production is key in virus fight

South Africa's efforts to produce vaccines are key to helping the African continent become more self-sufficient in inoculations to combat COVID-19 and many other diseases, the visiting chief of the World Health Organization said Friday.

The WHO director-general was visiting Cape Town to view three facilities that are starting work to manufacture vaccines. He was also scheduled to visit the Afrigen lab that, with support from the WHO, is creating a COVID-19 vaccine from scratch.

The laboratory is replicating the Moderna vaccine using mRNA vaccine technology. The Afrigen facility has backing from WHO and several other partners including the governments of South Africa, France and Belgium.

The initiative is also supported by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.