Vice Minister of Health Ayjan Esmagambetova revealed in the corridors of the Senate on April 25, 2024, why the registration of the Kazakh vaccine against the QazVac coronavirus by the World Health Organization has been delayed.
Journalists noted that the pandemic has long ended, yet the Kazakh vaccine is still not registered. They inquired, "Has the train left?"
In response, Ayjan Esmagambetova explained that for the vaccine to be registered with the WHO, the entire production cycle of the vaccine must be completed, starting from biomass production, to vaccine bottling, packaging, labeling, and so on.
"We have launched the first line of the plant – it has already been certified by the international GNP standard for bottling. By the end of this year, the construction of the second line of the plant is planned to be completed, followed by the validation of all processes. When it is certified according to international standards, then we will have the full production cycle of the vaccine. And this full cycle will allow us to propose the registration not only of the COVID vaccine but of any drug produced at this plant, not only domestically but also with the WHO," assured the Vice Minister of Health.
According to her, this plant will help reduce dependency on drug imports. She emphasized, "Vaccine production is a very complex, labor-intensive process that even in developed countries takes decades, while our plant was built in a relatively short time. And then, perhaps we need to understand that we should not live day by day, thinking that the pandemic has ended and nothing else threatens us. Today, all scientists say that climate change, human encroachment into the wild, development of trade relations, migration, urbanization, accumulation – all these are prerequisites for future, if not pandemics, then epidemics. And these are not just my words, all experts say so. Therefore, it is important for the country to be prepared for such threats – and the country's readiness consists of several stages, one of which is reducing import dependency. And this is the task of this plant," summarized Esmagambetova.
Back in 2022, Ayjan Esmagambetova mentioned that the Ministry of Health was expecting a visit from WHO representatives to recognize the Kazakh vaccine. However, the vaccine is still not recognized.
