Berlin Feb 16 (BUS): German vaccine maker BioNTech, which developed the first widely approved dose against COVID-19 jointly with Pfizer, unveiled plans on Wednesday to set up manufacturing facilities in Africa that would boost availability of the much-tightened drug needed in the region. the continent.
The modular design presented at a ceremony in Marburg, Germany, consists of shipping containers with the equipment needed to make the company’s mRNA-based vaccine, except for the final step of placing the doses in bottles, a process known as filling and finishing.
BioNTech has been criticized by some campaign groups for refusing to suspend vaccine patents and allow competitors to manufacture vaccines as part of an effort to make them more widely available, especially in poor countries.
The company argues that the process of making mRNA vaccines is difficult and would prefer to work with local partners to ensure consistent quality of shots worldwide, the AP reports..
BioNTech said the first ready-to-delivery facility will be shipped to Senegal or Rwanda in the second half of this year. It aims to start producing up to 50 million doses of the vaccine annually within 12 months, pending approval by local regulators.
That’s a fraction of the 1.2 billion doses the company produced in Marburg last year. But BioNTech said vaccines made in the target country will likely be used there and other African Union countries at a not-for-profit price.
BioNTech said it will initially operate and operate the facilities, but will later transfer the knowledge to local partners to enable autonomous operation.
The head of the World Health Organization, Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has welcomed BioNTech’s plan to ramp up vaccine production on the continent, saying it will complement the global body’s efforts to boost the use of mRNA technology in South Africa and elsewhere.
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