{"id":38670,"date":"2026-07-03T09:43:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=38670"},"modified":"2026-07-03T09:43:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:43:22","slug":"sa-backs-local-ebola-vaccine-development","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-backs-local-ebola-vaccine-development\/","title":{"rendered":"SA backs local Ebola vaccine development"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">South Africa&#8217;s (SA) President Cyril Ramaphosa has reaffirmed Africa\u2019s support for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as it battles an Ebola outbreak, following a solidarity visit to Kinshasa in his capacity as African Union (AU) Champion for Pandemic Preparedness, Prevention and Response.<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Ramaphosa led the AU solidarity mission alongside the DRC President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi, stressing that Africa must strengthen local vaccine production and present a united front in addressing the health crisis.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>He says SA was supporting local manufacturer Afrigen in efforts to develop a vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cSA remains committed to investing in African innovation and local manufacturing capacity. In this regard, we are supporting our manufacturer, Afrigen, as it participates in efforts to develop a vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. Africa has repeatedly demonstrated resilience in the face of health crises. What is required now is unity of purpose, urgency of action and sustained solidarity,\u201d Ramaphosa said.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Tshisekedi said the DRC had mobilised significant resources to contain the outbreak and protect its population.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThe DRC has mobilised so far &amp;50 million intended to strengthen the national response. These resources are supporting the deployment of medical staff, strengthening the labs, purchasing medical inputs, surveillance at border points, management of patients, protection of health care workers, monitoring of contacts, and community awareness campaigns,\u201d Tshisekedi says.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u2014SABC\u2014<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":37631,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-38670","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Ramaphosa led the AU solidarity mission alongside the DRC President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi.","published_date":"","news_description":"Ramaphosa led the AU solidarity mission alongside the DRC President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38672,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38670\/revisions\/38672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}