Copyright Bloomberg
The Gates Foundation and other partners, including the European Union and the German government, have backed the establishment of a laboratory in Cape Town that will enable The Biovac Institute to develop vaccines and other therapeutics for use in Africa. Nations on the continent, which has been hard hit by some of humanity’s most devastating diseases, depend on foreign suppliers for as much as 90% of their drugs and 99% of their vaccines. The need for local production was reemphasized when there were shortages of shots during the Covid-19 pandemic and an outbreak of mpox, which was declared a global health emergency.
