BioNTech, a Germany-based vaccine maker company, on Wednesday, announced plans to establish manufacturing facilities in Africa that would help in boosting the availability of much-needed medicines on the continent, reported Africa News.
The question was, can we make the process compact enough to fit in a container?” Ugur Sahin, the CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, told AFP.
The vaccine-maker company said it aims to start establishing the first manufacturing facility in the African Union in mid-2022. It said it expects to ship the so-called “BioNTainers” to Rwanda, Senegal, or both countries.
The launch ceremony at BioNTech’s mRNA production site in Marburg, Germany, was attended by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Notably, Africa is the least-vaccinated continent. Less than 12 percent of Africans have been fully vaccinated so far.
Earlier this month, the South African biotech company Biologics announced it had produced the continent’s first coronavirus vaccine based on mRNA technology, using the publically available genetic code used by BioNTech rival Moderna. Biologics, in collaboration with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, has sold tens of millions of vaccines so far.
Sahin said BioNTech was aiming to install production sites for mRNA technology on every continent. He said South Africa is much more likely to join the list of recipients of the mobile labs.
The lab will consist of 12 containers that have been split into two modules, one for the production of mRNA and the other for the vaccine serum. Local partner companies will take over the filling of the vials.
Sahin explained that it takes near about 50,000 steps to make the vaccine. He said the containers will overcome the challenge by having “the process pre-validated” before they are installed.
He said it will take 12 months for the first doses produced by the container labs to be made available.
