Pfizer’s vaccine against covid-19 and vaccines against malaria and tuberculosis will be produced in the country. BioNTech is preparing to transfer the technology to Rwanda and Senegal.
According to the Rwandan Minister of Health, the waiting period will not be long. “Covid-19 mRNA vaccine production soon effective in Rwanda and Senegal. Thanks to BioNTech committed for Tech and Knowledge Transfer for manufacturing vaccines in Africa, “wrote Dr Daniel Ngamije on his twitter account.
This major vaccine production project on the African continent also concerns the fight against tuberculosis and malaria.
BioNTech, in its bid to become an “immunotherapy powerhouse”, has announced the upcoming construction of mRNA production sites in Rwanda and Senegal. The aim is to support the manufacture of these two vaccines in Africa. These sites would be used to supply African populations.
The European Union (EU) is financially supporting this cooperation between the German company BioNTech and Rwanda on the one hand and Senegal on the other. “The EU Commission proudly supports this vaccine cooperation between Rwanda, Senegal and BioNTech Group,” said Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the EU Commission. “Europe is investing €1 billion to facilitate the manufacture of and access to vaccines in Africa,” she said. “We are one step closer to our goal: mRNAs made in Africa, for the African people,” she said.
African countries have been working together in the negotiations for this initiative to produce vaccines in Africa and for Africans. “Africa works best when it works together. It is important that this initiative is based on a continent-wide strategy developed by the African Union and CDC Africa,” said Rwandan Head of State Paul Kagame.
This vaccine production will reduce the dependence of African countries on global supply.
On the sidelines of the G20 compact summit held in Germany last week, President Paul Kagame held discussions with German Health Minister Jens Spahn on collaboration for vaccine production in Africa.
In addition, Rwanda is partnering with Belgium, through ENABEL, to help achieve Rwanda’s goal of building a robust ecosystem in the biotechnology industry. The Belgian cooperation will also strengthen the country’s capacity to manufacture vaccines and other pharmaceutical products.
“ENABEL is delighted to contribute to this noble cause of ensuring access to much needed vaccines and medicines in Africa, thus contributing to the goal of health equity,” revealed Dirk Deprez, ENABEL’s resident representative in Rwanda.
Most Africans have not yet received a dose of the vaccine. “So far, almost 79 million doses of covid-19 vaccine have arrived in Africa. 21 million people, or just 1.6% of Africa’s population, are fully vaccinated,” revealed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, at the end of July.
Rwanda has already vaccinated about 1.5 million of its population. By the end of the year, at least 30% will have received two doses of covid-19.
Gérard Rugambwa
