Page 93 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

Vaccines were initially also manufactured by the section in which they had been developed. Some sections, such as the Bacteriology Section, produced such vast quantities of vaccine that specially equipped, large laboratories were used for this purpose, as mentioned above.
ONDERSTEPOORT 100 The central bottling section in 1958
Centralization of vaccine
production at Onderstepoort
A drastic change occurred in 1968. K.E. Weiss, who was director of the In- stitute from 1966-1980, had realized the necessity of centralizing all vaccine production activities at Onderstepoort as early as 1958. He was directly involved in the planning of a new building that he envisaged for this purpose. It would not only house the ‘vaccine factory’ but also a quality control section for vaccines, a media-production facility, vaccine storage magazines and a sales depart- ment, several research laboratories, offices for the senior management and
administrative staff as well as a restaurant. The new building was completed in 1968 and opened by the then officiating Minister of Agriculture, Mr Dirk Uys. Thus a completely new era for vaccine production at the Institute was introduced.
The new factory was managed entirely by veterinary tech- nologists, Weiss personally being the overall supervisor. Mr P.
183
Autoclave hall in the new building housing the Vaccine Factory in 1968
Vaccine Production and Onderstepoort Biological Products
1908-2008
Years