Building on Pasteur's legacy: producing vaccines in Africa

Abstract

Louis Pasteur's legacy of translating scientific knowledge on vaccines to create a healthier world resonates with his comment that “Science knows no country because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence.”1 However, during the COVID-19 pandemic vaccine knowledge has not belonged to humanity, leading to global vaccine inequity2 and attempts to obstruct Africa, the world's poorest continent, from manufacturing mRNA vaccines for those most in need.