A public-private vaccine alliance with the vision to support children vaccination around the world, Gavi, has announced that it will seek it board approval for US$189 million to support the rapid development of Africa’s vaccine manufacturing ecosystem.

In a statement on Friday, Gavi said the move was under “measures, named AVMA+,” slated to be presented to Gavi’s Board in July.

Gavi noted, “AVMA+ has been designed to provide additional support in two key areas, firstly addressing specific regulatory and market entry bottlenecks that are acting as a brake on investment.”

“Secondly by providing guaranteed demand to African producers by directly purchasing up to 70 million doses of African-manufactured vaccines, following competitive tender processes, once those vaccines reach the market.”

The CEO of Gavi, Dr Sania Nishtar, said “In its first 18 months, AVMA has made remarkable progress, helping secure thirteen individual technology transfer agreements that have led to commercial-scale manufacturing facilities being built in six African countries.”

“As our manufacturing partners continue down the pathway towards prequalification and full commercialisation, we believe that the new investments enabled by AVMA+ will accelerate the timelines for when African demand for vaccines will be met by local production. This is the right thing to do for Africa’s economic development and it is the right thing to do for our global health security.”

Gavi added that COVID-19 laid bare the cost to Africa relying on imported vaccines, adding that with only 0.1% of global production despite the fact that the continent was home to 20% of the world’s population, it found itself at the back of the queue in attempts to secure vaccines during the pandemic.

It stated, “AVMA, which was launched in 2024, was designed in close collaboration with the African Union and Africa CDC to ensure such a situation never arises again by helping manufacturers to offset the upfront costs of bringing a vaccine by making a total of US$ 1 billion in incentives available for manufacturers that hit critical regulatory and supply milestones.”

It further said that with 13 individual technology transfer agreements already signed between African manufacturers and global partners, and with US$ 3 billion in additional financing mobilised since AVMA’s launch in 2024, it was possible that the first AVMA-supported, Africa-manufactured vaccines could be deployed as early as 2027.