Africa: Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal Partner BioNTech to Produce Vaccines

Ghana, Rwanda and Senegal have partnered with German biotechnology company, BioNTech SE, to fill, finish, and package BioNTech mRNA vaccines in Africa.

This is the first step in the chain of domestic vaccines production which is expected to improve vaccine supply in Africa.

BioNTech SE’s approach to this project is to establish scalable vaccine production by delivering turnkey mRNA manufacturing facilities based on a container solution.

On Wednesday at Marburg, Germany, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and President Macky Sall of Senegal, as well as President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, witnessed the official presentation of a BioNTech modular production facility, for the production of mRNA vaccines in Africa.

President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, were at the presentation ceremony.

The modular production facility, known as BioNTainer, consist of one drug substance and one drug product module, each built of six ISO sized containers.

Each module requires 800sqm of space and offers a million doses of mRNA-based vaccines depending on the specific vaccine.

The BioNTainer is equipped to manufacture a range of mRNA-based approved vaccines specifically to the needs of African member states.

The first BioNTainer is expected to be shipped to African Union in mid-2022. Other BioNTainers will be shipped to Rwanda and Senegal in close alignment with the respective countries and the African Union.

BioNTech will be responsible for the delivery and set-up of the modules, while local authorities and governments will provide the needed infrastructure.

Ghana will support manufacturing with fill-and-finish capacities. With the cooperation of WHO, Africa CDC/AMA, and the European Union, BioNTech will support, identify and set up the necessary regulatory framework.

The company will initially staff, own and operate the facilities to support the safe and rapid initiation of the production of mRNA-based vaccine doses. In the longer term, the company plans to transfer manufacturing capacities and the know-how to local partners to enable sustainable production of mRNA vaccines in Africa.

Vaccines manufactured in these facilities are expected to be dedicated to domestic use and export to other member states of the African Union at a not-for-profit price.

Speaking at the event, President Akufo-Addo said the meeting heralded an important step in end-to-end vaccine manufacturing in Africa.

This pan-African project, he indicated, fitted into Ghana’s roadmap for vaccine development and manufacturing.

President Akufo-Addo said Ghana would work together with Rwanda and Senegal to fill, finish, and package BioNTech mRNA vaccines, as a “first step in the chain of domestic vaccine production.”

Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), he assured, would work closely with regulatory bodies from the two partner countries, to enhance the regulatory capacities for domestic vaccine development and manufacturing in Africa.

President Akufo-Addo said Ghana was prepared for the project as there was political will, backed by the country’s pharmaceutical industry, and scientific research institutions, and lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said Ghana had learnt a lot from the pandemic, and that the country was determined to enhance its ability to handle more efficiently, any future outbreaks, including building domestic capacity for vaccine production.

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