BioNTech to ship mRNA vaccine factory kits to Africa

Germany's biotechnology company BioNTech****has developed a vaccine factory, made from shipping containers.

The company plans to ship to Africa as assembly kits to ease what the World Health Organization has described as huge disparities in global COVID-19 vaccine access.

The factory prototype will be instrumental in helping the biotech firm deliver on a pledge made last year to Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal and the African Union to secure mRNA vaccine production on the continent.

where inoculation rates have fallen far behind other parts of the world.

Work on the first mRNA manufacturing facility in the African Union is due to begin in mid-2022 which will be followed by the delivery of the first container in Africa during the second half of the year. BioNTech said in a statement.

The factory, housed in two groups of six 40-foot-containers, should kick off vaccine production about 12 months after the delivery of the assembly kit.

This is the beginning of the vaccine equity for Africa project. With this project, the African Union is aiming that by 2014, 60% of the vaccines used on the continent would be produced on the continent.

The European Union fully supports that goal. Together with our Member States and financial institutions, we have committed over one billion euros in financing. 

To strengthen regulatory frameworks, and transfer skills and know-how. Because regional capacities are the cornerstone of global public health.