The brand new biopharmaceutical complex in the Zhambyl region of Kazakhstan has made a set of tests and is almost ready to produce QazVac, a Kazakhstani-developed vaccine against COVID-19, according to Berdibek Saparbekov, the head of the region.
As the official said at the briefing for the press, the construction work is almost over and the plant has all the utilities needed. Now, the manufacturing site is under validation by Chinese, Italian and Ukrainian specialists.
«On the day before yesterday, we have made a first test run. Everything works quite perfectly. When the validation of the equipment will be completed, we will start a validation for technologies. We are going to invite experts from the Ministry of Health and our foreign partners to make sure that the plant meets GMP requirements. We need about a month and a half for that and then we can proceed with licensing. So, in September we plan to launch the production of our Kazakhstani vaccine,» Saparbayev said.
The capacity of the plant is going to reach about one million doses per month, he added. However, to meet this goal the manufacturing site needs experienced process specialists.
«Currently, foreign experts have been teaching specialists from the Scientific Research Institute of Biological Safety Problems, so they are going to work with that sophisticated production equipment. We need 60 process specialists in total,» the region’s head said.
In May, Saparbayev already reported about these plans to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
The construction of the plant under the Scientific Research Institute of Biological Safety Problems started in June last year in the settlement of Gvardeyskiy, Korday district of the Zhambyl region. During 2020 and 2021, the government allocated about $16.1 million for the construction. It was supposed the plant could start its operations in the first quarter of 2021.
