WHO experts to visit Kazakhstan to assess QazVac production

The World Health Organization team of experts will visit Kazakhstan. The team intends to check and analyze the production process of the QazVac domestic vaccine. The group is scheduled to arrive next week. This became known in Geneva at a meeting of Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs with the WHO Director General. Mukhtar Tleuberdi informed Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus about the measures taken by the Kazakh government in the fight against coronavirus and about new messages from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to prevent further spread of the infection in the country. The head of WHO stressed that cooperation between Kazakhstan and the Organization is at a very high level.

“WHO shows interest to the development and production of the domestic coronavirus vaccine QazVac. We are currently working with the Organization to register the vaccine. There are, of course, certain issues about compliance with the conditions of the standards for the production of this vaccine. We understand that this will take some time, but technical support from the WHO Secretariat and our partners in this Organization will facilitate its registration as well as Kazakhstan’s opportunity to produce vaccine for domestic consumption, and also help the world community in the fight against coronavirus,” said Mukhtar Tleuberdi, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“WHO’s Position, as you may know, is to encourage countries to produce vaccines, and we advocate for local production. I’m very glad that Kazakhstan is producing its own vaccines and one of the issues we discussed with His Excellency the Deputy Prime Minister is on local production, and we will be sending a team next week to Kazakhstan to, you know, check or to investigate, or to inspect what Kazakhstan is doing. And we have already started working, so I look forward to that very important partnership,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova and Saule Mukhamejanova