Nairobi, March 7 (BNA) Moderna Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kenyan government on Monday to establish the first RNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa.
Moderna said in a statement that the goal is to produce up to 500 million doses of vaccines annually for the African continent.
She said the focus is on drug materials manufacturing, although the facility could be expanded to include filling and finishing work, the AP reports.
“In parallel, Moderna is also working on plans to allow it to fill doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in Africa as early as 2023, on demand,” the company said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the huge need for vaccine manufacturing on the African continent, which remains the least immunized region in the world against the coronavirus. The World Health Organization said the continent relies on imports for about 99% of its vaccine needs.
In October, Senegal and Rwanda signed an agreement with BioNTech to build their first end-to-end plants to manufacture RNA vaccines in Africa.
The new mRNA process uses the genetic code of the coronavirus protein and is believed to lead to a better immune response than conventional vaccines.
Scientists hope the technology, which is easier to scale compared to traditional vaccine methods, will eventually be used to make vaccines against other diseases, including malaria.
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