Six African countries will receive technology to produce mRNA vaccines as part of a World Health Organization project, Reuters reports. The vaccines will be used to help prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.

The following countries were selected: Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia.
The mRNA used by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna for their COVID-19 shots is a synthetic form of the virus' genetic material.
The European Union and the African Union have agreed to a new deal to help improve the lives of people in Africa. The deal was announced at the EU-African Union summit in Brussels. The European Union and the African Union have agreed on a new deal to help improve the lives of people in Africa. The deal was announced at the EU-African Union summit in Brussels.
The World Health Organization said on Friday six African countries - Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia - would be the first to receive the technology needed to produce vaccines from messenger RNA.
The technology transfer project, which was launched last year in Cape Town, aims to help low- and middle-income countries manufacture mRNA vaccines at scale and according to international standards.
mRNA is a technology used by companies such as Pfizer-BioNTech (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE) and Moderna (MRNA.O) for their COVID-19 shots.
The WHO established its global mRNA technology transfer hub to ensure that wealthy countries and companies could continue to purchase vaccines at a high price. This pushed low- and middle-income countries to the back of the queue for COVID-19 vaccines.
» Last year in June, the WHO selected a consortium of South African companies to run the global mRNA hub. Afrigen Biologics later used Moderna's publicly available vaccine sequence to produce its own version of the U.S. company's COVID shot. The first approval for doses made by Afrigen could come only in 2024, the WHO has said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the pandemic had demonstrated more than any other event how reliance on a few companies to supply global public goods was limiting and dangerous.
"In the long-term, the best way to address health emergencies and reach universal health coverage is to significantly increase the capacity of all regions to manufacture the health products they need," he said in a statement.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa urged the global vaccine distribution scheme COVAX and vaccines alliance GAVI to buy vaccines from local manufacturers.
Ramaphosa told a news conference on the sidelines of a European Union-African Union (AU) summit in Brussels that the lack of a market for vaccines produced in Africa is something that should be concerning to all of us.
Organizations such as COVAX and GAVI should commit to buying vaccines from local manufacturers instead of going outside of those hubs that have been set up.
"Our aim of course is to have 60% of vaccines given in Africa ... be produced in Africa as well," said Senegalese President Macky Sall.
The Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo told Reuters that the government is working with BioNTech, the WHO and the AU on mRNA vaccine manufacturing, citing an agreement BionTech signed with Kigali and Senegal's Institut Pasteur of Dakar in October.
Makolo did not respond to a question on whether Rwanda had applied to be a part of the WHO's technology transfer project.
This company is designed, led, and owned by Africa.
The hub has already established mRNA vaccine production at laboratory scale and is working towards commercial production. The recipient countries will begin training in March 2022.
This is mRNA technology designed in Africa, led by Africa and owned by Africa, with the support of Team Europe," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
The transfer hub could expand manufacturing capacity to tackle diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria in Africa, primarily set up in response to the COVID-19 emergency.
Biovac, the first recipient of the mRNA technology transfer, will mass produce the vaccine once it has passed the necessary safety and regulatory hurdles. Consortium partner and partly state-owned South African vaccine manufacturer Biovac is the first recipient of the mRNA technology transfer.
Other countries that are involved in manufacturing and that have been mentioned by the WHO as playing a role in the global manufacturing sector include Argentina and Brazil.
The mRNA hub in South Africa has a global approach, serving not only Africa but the world. The hub has been accessed by over 20 countries for technology transfer, the WHO said.
"Kate Stegeman, an advocacy coordinator for International aid group Medicins Sans Frontieres, called the announcement a welcome milestone," said Stegeman.
Wendell Roelf, Alexander Winning, Maggie Fick, Clement Uwiringiyimana and James Macharia Chege all reported on the situation in Africa. Gareth Jones, Barbara Lewis and Frances Kerry edited their work.