Creating sustainable pathways to regional vaccine manufacturing

29 July 2024

By Dr. Frederik Kristensen, Managing Director of the Regionalized Vaccine Manufacturing Collaborative

Today, I’m delighted to be launching the Regionalized Vaccine Manufacturing Collaborative’s – RVMC - strategy for the next three years.

RVMC was founded in 2022 with a collective mission to improve vaccine equity and health security around the world through the establishment of regional vaccine manufacturing and supply chain networks. So far in 2024 we have created a full-time Secretariat hosted by CEPI, and published a comprehensive Framework Report on what it will take to realise our mission.

We’re launching this strategy at a time of considerable interest and activity around regional vaccine manufacturing. Spurred on by the deep inequities in vaccine access experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the past two years has seen a surge in public and private investments in regionalized vaccine manufacturing.

Building consensus around exactly what the vision is for regionalized vaccine manufacturing and what it will take to succeed is a clear gap at the moment. We are working to formulate a clear and compelling global vision for regionalization that can unite the actors in this field and sustain political, financial and industrial support for the regionalization agenda for years ahead. We aim to launch such a vision document early 2025. Alongside this we will enhance access to information to inform common and effective approaches to regional vaccine manufacturing. 

For regional vaccine manufacturing to be effective, consistent coordination is needed. At the request of partners, RVMC will facilitate discussions between stakeholders and between regions to align their projects to common objectives and regional priorities. Better coordination should generate more impact and encourage further investment in the regionalization agenda, thereby improving the economic sustainability of vaccine manufacturing. Later this year we’ll co-host the first of a series of multi-stakeholder gatherings to align the efforts of existing mappings and initiatives, with an initial focus on Latin America and the Caribbean.

To be sustainable in the long run regionalized vaccine manufacturing and distribution must be self-sufficient. For resources to be committed in the right places, for the right products in the right way, requires knowledge of what already exists both locally and globally. To enhance collaboration, we will work with partners to bring existing market analyses together and present the global fact base, including insights on sustainable financial models for regional vaccine manufacturing and where the most promising opportunities to develop healthy regional vaccine markets exist. 

Finally, we need a clear and real-time view of progress towards economically sustainable regional vaccine manufacturing. We will develop clear goals connected with a monitoring tool that can be used by governments, public health institutions, investors, industry and the media to understand how far we are towards securing sustainable regional vaccine manufacturing, and where the findings can inform and shape stakeholder priorities for the years ahead. 

RVMC is uniquely suited to provide stakeholders with the support they need, being the only organization fully dedicated to the vaccine regionalization agenda, and intentionally positioned between regions and between global and regional bodies. Our strategy was built together with these bodies and focuses on where we can add the most value in support of their work. 

We believe that we’ve never had a better chance to advance vaccine equity and health security for all than now, and through our 2024-27 strategy we’re committed to working with all partners to create regional vaccine manufacturing as a core element to deliver this.

Visit the RVMC website.