Moderna’s decision to shelve vaccine plant in Kenya should encourage global south’s self-reliance, says global health adviser
A decision by the drug manufacturer Moderna to drop plans to set up its first mRNA vaccine manufacturing plant outside the United States in Nairobi, Kenya, should be seen as a wake-up call to developing countries to increase their investment in vaccine and drug development, an expert has said. Madhukar Pai, a Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health at McGill University’s School of Population and Global Health, said that it was “a huge mistake” for African nations to rely on the drug industry. Pai told The BMJ that Moderna’s “U turn on manufacturing in Africa was not a surprise to anyone” given the company’s reluctance to share …