The Algerian pharmaceutical group Saidal is the leading African producer of the CoronaVac vaccine, from the Chinese group Sinovac. Algeria is also continuing its discussions to produce the Russian vaccine Sputnik V.
Algeria shows its ambitions: to become an exporter of anti-Covid vaccines to other African countries. This Wednesday will begin production of CoronaVac, the vaccine from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac. The plant of the public pharmaceutical group Saidal, based in Constantine, will be the first to go into production. Algerian Minister of Pharmaceutical Industry Lotfi Benbahmed has just unveiled Algiers' vaccine strategy.
Saidal is the only African group to have obtained the CoronoVac license. Sinovac's vaccine is the most used in Algeria, during the anti-Covid vaccination campaign, said the minister. By launching the production of CoronoVac on its territory, Algeria has set itself two objectives: to meet local demand for Covid-19 vaccines but also to export to Africa.
The continent presents the lowest vaccination rate in the world. On September 25, according to data from the OurWorldinData site, 6,4% of the African population received a first dose of the anti-Covid vaccine, compared to 50% for Asia and nearly 60% for Europe and America. . "It is a substitution for import and a projection for export", summarized Benbahmed.
Algeria aims to produce 65 million vaccines before the end of 2022, to meet national needs. But the North African country is also launching the “AfricaVac” initiative. Algeria will thus seek to send doses to several African countries. The minister indicated that Algeria will eventually be able to manufacture 320 doses of Sinovac per day, solely by relying on the Constantine plant.
Record deadlines
The Algerian minister's announcement clearly caught the attention of the African Union (AU). A delegation of members of the African Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) will travel to Algiers from October 13 to 18. "This agency has considerable resources to buy the Algerian vaccine," says Benbahmed. However, the CDC was disappointed by the broken promises of several laboratories, in particular in India.
According to the director of production, export and research of the Ministry of Pharmaceutical Industry, Nadia Bouabdallah, the Constantine plant will be a real machine: “Sinovac was pleasantly surprised by Saidal's mastery of the manufacturing process and its production capacities ”.
As a reminder, Sinovac has established contacts with Egypt and Senegal for similar projects. But Algiers took everyone by surprise. It must be said that the Algerian authorities had done everything possible to prepare the Saidal factory in Constantine for the manufacture of Sputnik V. Algeria also has a laboratory, directly connected to the factory, which is already equipped to produce. the materials necessary for the production of the vaccine, thanks in particular to the agreements with Russia.
If production starts tomorrow, it will only take Saidal three months to validate the vaccines for the international market. Once the “validation batches” have been validated, Saidal will obtain discharge for the placing on the market. Good news for Algeria, but also for Africa.
After Sinovac, Sputnik V
Concerning the project for the production of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V in Algeria, the Minister of Pharmaceutical Industry Benbahmed assured that the negotiations are "still in progress" with the Russian side, assuring that "the project is not abandoned". Nadia Bouabdallah also recalled that the partnership between Russia and Algeria in the pharmaceutical sector did not stop with vaccines against Covid-19. “Our cooperation with Russia will continue and develop on the vaccine and on other products, including oncology, with Saidal. Concrete projects are in the process of being put in place, ”said the Minister.
Indeed, the partnership between Saidal and the Russian laboratory Gamaleïa, developer of Sputnik V, dates back several months. Vaccine production is expected in the short term, although this is slightly behind schedule. But the friendship between the Russian and Algerian states is solid.
However, there is one concern: the CoronaVac vaccine, like Sputnik V, is not approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and therefore does not meet the requirements of various European “vaccine passports”. The production manager, Nadia Bouabdhallah, assures us, however, that CoronaVac will undoubtedly be approved "for tourism and political considerations requiring its acceptance".