Pharmaceutical Companies Target the African Market for Vaccine Production

Vaccine production has become particularly important, especially as a new pandemic is anticipated by various experts. German pharmaceutical company BioNTech has announced that it has reached a key milestone in establishing its first vaccine production center in Africa in Rwanda, aiming to enhance access to messenger RNA vaccines on the continent. BioNTech has set up a production unit in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, to manufacture vaccines against various diseases in Africa. Built from recycled shipping containers, the unit covers an area of 35,000 square meters. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and production should commence next year, according to the German biotechnology manufacturer, which, along with the American Pfizer group, rapidly and successfully developed the world's first authorized COVID-19 vaccine, generating billions of euros in revenue for the two companies. The $150 million project in Rwanda began in June 2022 and aims to avoid Africa's total dependence on imported vaccines, as happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Initially, the consensus was that messenger RNA vaccines should not even be administered in Africa. It was said to be too complicated for our health systems," said Rwandan President Paul Kagame during a ceremony attended by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. "When we embarked on this adventure to manufacture these vaccines on the African continent, we were told it would take at least 30 years. That was completely wrong. This is possible and necessary," he added. BioNTech plans to hire approximately 100 locals when the plant is fully operational and train them to manufacture a variety of new vaccines using messenger RNA technology. Rwanda will then distribute the vaccines to the 55 member countries of the African Union. The first COVID-19 vaccine plant in Africa was launched in April 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa, a country leading the fight for equal access to COVID-19 vaccines, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), South African biopharmaceutical company Biovac, biotechnology company Afrigen, and the South African Medical Research Council.