The Vaccine Manufacturing Workshop for South-East Asia (SEAR) and Western Pacific Regions (WPR) ended today after two days of discussions centered on promoting quality and sustainable local production to improve access to vaccines in SEAR and WPR.
This workshop was organized by the Local Production and Assistance Unit (LPA) in the Department of Regulation and Prequalification, Access to Medicines and Health Products Division, WHO headquarters, in close collaboration with WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia and WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific with technical support from Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). In times of pandemic, importations are directly impacted by disrupted supply chains causing shortages and stock-outs. Thus, more Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) are increasingly interested in strengthening their local production capacity in an attempt to improve access to quality-assured medical products and vaccines, strengthen health security and reach the health-related targets during pandemic and beyond.
This workshop brought a platform for vaccine manufacturing stakeholders to engage, dialogue and collaborate towards preparedness and response to COVID-19 and future pandemics to improve public health security in LMICs. It aims to address the specific needs at country and regional levels on the development plans for a robust and sustainable local production environment and to deliver regional roadmaps in South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions to strengthen vaccine production capacity/capability and improve production efficiency through strategic WHO policies and guidelines, research and development, financial investment, political and government commitment.
Delegates came from different sectors, and included policy makers, manufacturers, regulators from SEAR and WPR together with international partners. Next steps were jointly identified to strengthen vaccine production capacity, capability & efficiency in the two regions, which included:
- Leveraging on the World Local Production Forum to stimulate global collaboration and synergize efforts
- Conducting feasibility assessment and situational analysis of the local production ecosystem
- Continuous strengthening of regulatory systems
- Building capacity in sustainable local production of quality vaccines
- Developing global and regional resources
- Supporting Member States to develop a strategy or roadmap for local production
- Providing specialized technical assistance to manufacturers for WHO PQ or EUL
- Fostering partnership for regional and global cooperation
Around 300 participants from SEAR and WPR attended the two days' workshop.
For more information, please contact the Local Production & Assistance Unit (LPA) at: localproduction@who.int