Moderna plans to invest $500 million to build a new manufacturing plant in Africa to supply doses of its Covid-19 vaccine and potential additional vaccines, reported Reuters.
The pharmaceutical company on Thursday said it will build a state-of-the-art facility that could produce up to 500 million doses of vaccines annually, using its gene-based technology, known as messenger RNA.
Moderna currently produces the Covid-19 vaccine only, but the company is working to develop other vaccines against Zika, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and other pathogens that could be made at the plant and meet the demand of African countries. According to a press release, the company has at least 20 vaccine candidates in the pipeline including vaccines against respiratory viruses, vaccines against latent viruses, and vaccines against threats to global public health.
Moderna will soon begin the process of site selection on the continent and it’s already been narrowed down to about five unnamed countries.
The pharmaceutical company’s CEO Stephane Bancel said the initial vaccine doses from the new Africa plant wouldn’t factor into the current pandemic emergency. It will probably take two to four years to complete the construction of the plant.
Moderna’s announcement comes after BioNTech, co-developer of a Covid-19 vaccine with Pfizer, said it would establish an mRNA manufacturing facility in Africa.
The German-based vaccine developer had talks with Senegal and Rwanda political leaders in August and aims to have a partner for the easiest part of the process, filling vials, in the next year. It also struck a deal in July for South Africa’s Biovac to help make around 100 million doses a year of their COVID-19 vaccine for Africa.
Moderna and other Covid-19 vaccine-producing companies continue to face criticism for not doing more to make doses available to lower-income countries, including those in Africa, where vaccination rates are extremely low. Most of Moderna’s vaccine supplies have been shipped to wealthier countries, including the United States, Japan, and European nations.
