German biotech giant BioNTech is reportedly revising its plans for a vaccine factory network in Africa.
Details
According to a report published on Bloomberg, the company is reconsidering its plans for factories in Rwanda, South Africa, and Senegal, over a year after they broke ground on their Rwanda facility.
Although the company shipped six containers to Kigali for construction purposes, they are reportedly considering scrapping the South Africa facility and downgrading the Senegal site to a smaller-scale factory or possibly an R&D center.
Digging Deeper
Plans for a manufacturing facility in South Africa haven’t moved forward in six months, and there has been no communication with potential local partners since late March.
What They’re Saying
BioNTech said its “goal of helping to democratize access to innovative medicines remains unchanged.” It said work to establish commercial-scale vaccine facilities in Rwanda is underway, but it made no reference to manufacturing in South Africa.
The company said it’s currently focused on conducting clinical trials on an mRNA-based tuberculosis shot in the country at the foot of the continent.
There’s no set date for the arrival of BioNTainers in Senegal, and talks with BioNTech are ongoing, said Lamine Sene, senior project manager for the vaccine manufacturing facility of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar. “The project is moving forward,” Sene said. “We’re not working on the same schedule as Rwanda or South Africa.”
Why This Matters
The revised plans bring Africa’s vaccine self-sufficiency hopes into question, especially after countries in the continent struggled to perform effective vaccination campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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