American multinational pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer Inc. to develop the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine that is widely being used in countries across the globe in their battle against the Coronavirus pandemic. According to Uğur Şahin, the CEO and Co-Founder of the German vaccine manufacturer, the company’s aim is to set up sustainable vaccine production capabilities in Africa in order to jointly improve medical care in the continent.
“We are committed to investing in cutting-edge research and innovation to support vaccine development in addition to the establishment of manufacturing facilities and build-up of manufacturing expertise on the African continent,” he said.
Following the meeting, Rwanda’s Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Ngamije, announced that the production of mRNA vaccines will be soon effective in the East African nation. “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,” the minister wrote on Twitter.
According to a communique issued by BioNTech, the company has already begun the evaluation of manufacturing capabilities in the region following the announcement of its aim to develop “a well-tolerated and highly effective” Malaria vaccine and to implement “sustainable end-to-end vaccine supply solutions” on the African continent. The statement further noted that the decision to evaluate manufacturing solutions in Rwanda and Senegal follows the advice of the African Union, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the African Medical Agency under formation.
