“We previously produced certain vaccines such as BCG, so we have in the culture of our country a minimum of know-how to be able to manufacture it”, assures the director of the National Health Security Agency in a statement to TSA, suggesting to the government to seize the Russian offer.
In the context of the start of the vaccine campaign against Covid-19 in Algeria, the director of the National Health Security Agency (ANSS), Professor Kamel Senhadji, calls on the government to seize the opportunity of the Russian proposal to manufacture locally the Spoutnik V vaccine. Indeed, in an interview with the information site Tout Sur l’Algerie (TSA), he considers that his country has the means to launch this local production which he considers extremely important given the difficulty in acquiring a vaccine abroad due to pressure from global manufacturers.
“When we find ourselves in a crisis, the only way out is to produce on the spot and relocate essential strategies, and this applies to all areas,” said Prof. Senhadji, stressing that “the solution for ‘Algeria is to put manufacturing back in place, since it existed before, and to start manufacturing vaccines ”.
Referring to the case of the Russian proposal to help Algeria produce Sputnik V locally, the director of the ANSS said that “it is possible, it is a positive step”.
“Our country has a minimum of know-how”
Indeed, according to him, it is quite possible to mobilize the existing means in both the public and private sectors to quickly launch the production of the Sputnik V vaccine and probably others, given that Algeria needs more 40 million doses to carry out its vaccination campaign.
“We used to produce certain vaccines like BCG, so we have in our country’s culture a minimum of know-how to be able to manufacture it [Sputnik V], and then we have public drug and vaccine companies and private companies who are able to set in motion this project to restart local production ”, informs the manager. “This is the best way to escape from what we now see as vagaries and tensions.”
Lessons to be learned and the need to produce locally
Warning that after Covid-19 “there will be other pandemics or epidemics” like the last 20 years, during which “Ebola, AIDS, mad cow disease, swine flu, avian flu, the three coronas and the current Covid ”, Professor Kamel Senhadji judges that “ the crisis we are currently experiencing has given us lessons ”to remember.
He adds that “things will not be the same as before and that, even if we have the financial means and even if we can afford to acquire drugs and vaccines, when there are not elsewhere, even with money you can’t buy them ”.
Thus, he calls for launching vaccine development laboratories with centers “of vaccinology staffed with researchers who will work on the possibility of manufacturing other vaccines against other epidemics.” These centers will have the mission “to innovate to counter these next epidemics as an anticipation”. It will also be necessary to launch companies producing “public or private vaccines”.
Saturday, January 30, after having received a first batch of 500,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine the day before, Algeria launched its vaccination campaign from Blida, the first focus of the epidemic which broke out in the country in March 2020 .
