African Vaccine Academy (AVA) Trains Experts Across the Continent to Advance Vaccine Self-Reliance

2025 was the year the AVA, which is an initiative of Bloom Public Health & Biotech Training Facility, moved Africa closer to making its own vaccines. Through webinars with Merck, new regional partnerships & hands-on training for regulators, we supported the African Union’s goal of producing 60% of the vaccines Africa needs on the continent by 2040. 

For a long time, many regulators across Africa did not have enough practical training in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Quality Control, and safe vaccine batch release. That gap made it difficult to oversee large-scale production & slowed progress toward self-reliance. In 2025, we set out to close it by building real skills. 

Between March and October, we ran online webinars with Merck. Several regulators, manufacturers, researchers and partners joined from countries across Africa. We discussed mRNA vaccine trials, how to remove barriers to quality medicines, regulatory approval pathways and large-scale vaccine manufacturing. After the series, we asked participants for feedback & the response was strong. 71% said they had already used what they learned. 90% said they would recommend the sessions to others. 76% requested certificate programs, and 87% said they valued having offline learning materials. 

In December, we went deeper with a 10-day training in Dakar, Senegal. We delivered it with Africa CDC, African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, Institut Pasteur de Dakar, & African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization Initiative. Regulators from 10 African Union Member States learned GMP basics, QA & quality control systems, inspection standards, and WHO guidelines. They left ready to apply these skills in their home countries. 

In July 2025, we also joined the West African Regional Capability and Capacity Centre Network, an Africa CDC initiative led regionally by Institut Pasteur de Dakar. This membership confirms AVA’s role as a regional partner for training & strengthening vaccine manufacturing systems in West Africa. 

With partners like Merck Group, Biotech Training Facility and Sartorius, we are helping individuals & institutions gain skills that last beyond a single program. We are closing the gap between research and safe, large-scale vaccine production in Africa. 

In 2026, we will keep building. We will expand certificate training, make it easier for people facing scheduling or internet challenges to join & continue growing a skilled workforce for Africa’s vaccine future. Our Catch Them Young Programme is also in the pipeline. It is a 5-level pathway from Discovery to Professional Vaccine Champion. It will be digital-first, pan-African, with a 70% preference for female admission. Young women deserve to see that vaccine manufacturing & regulatory science are careers they can own and lead. Because when Africa can regulate, make and deliver its own vaccines, the continent can protect its own health.