Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 9 December - The appointment of Dr Amadou Alpha Sall as CEPI's Executive Director of Manufacturing and Supply Chain adds impetus to Africa's ambition to break the unfair global health system that hinders access to vaccines.
Dr Sall brings a wealth of scientific and leadership track records to CEPI from his first-hand experience leading Senegal's Institut Pasteur of Dakar (IPD), Africa's fast growing vaccine manufacturer. In his new role at CEPI, Dr Sall will lead the organization's manufacturing and supply chain strategy which aims to enhance global epidemic and pandemic preparedness by bolstering global manufacturing capacity in underserved regions and harnessing innovative technologies to improve the speed, scale and accessibility of vaccine production.
"Dr Sall has done a fabulous job in his current role as the CEO of IPD. In his new capacity, we hope that Dr Sall will support Africa CDC agenda of local manufacturing of health commodities that is close to the heart of African leaders. From our past collaboration, we can count Dr Sall as an effective ally for the local manufacturing agenda," said H.E. Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC.
Africa CDC and CEPI signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the sidelines of the 77th World Health Assembly in May 2024 to expand their partnership to strengthen epidemic and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response in Africa.
About CEPI
CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic and civil organisations. Its mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need. CEPI has supported the development of more than 50 vaccine candidates or platform technologies against multiple known high-risk pathogens or a future Disease X. Central to CEPI's pandemic-beating five-year plan for 2022-2026 is the '100 Days Mission' to compress the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days.
About Africa CDC
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a continental autonomous public health agency of the African Union that supports member states in their efforts to strengthen health systems and improve surveillance, emergency response, and prevention and control of diseases. Learn more at: http://www.africacdc.org and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube