Development partners back Biovac’s vaccine manufacturing expansion
The partners are the African Development Partnership (AfDB), CDC Group (the UK’s development finance institution), DEG (German development finance institution), DFC (the US International Development Finance Corporation), The European Investment Bank (EIB), French development finance institution Proparco, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Union Delegation to South Africa, and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC).
Biovac needs to raise around $150m to carry out its expansion plans.
Creating a sustainable vaccine manufacturing system
Biovac is already part of the consortium partnering with the WHO on a global mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa.
The company also entered into an agreement with Pfizer in July 2021 to manufacture up to 100 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in Africa.
Biovac will firstly expand existing vaccine manufacturing capacity for COVID-19 vaccines, then turn to capacity for routine vaccines as well.
“COVID-19 has proven that a more geographical spread of vaccine manufacturing is much needed globally, with the African continent having the least number of vaccine manufacturers," said Biovac CFO Craig Mitchell.
"We are pleased that the consortium of funders is willing to work with Biovac to create sustainable African vaccine manufacturing, not only to respond to the current pandemic, but also to much needed routine vaccines and future pandemic vaccines as well.”
Makhtar Diop, IFC Managing Director, added: “This unique partnership will help boost the production and manufacturing capacity of a range of vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine, in Africa."
“With strong partnerships and increased investment, manufacturers in Africa, such as Biovac, can ramp up domestic vaccine production to build a more resilient health sector and strengthen regional value chains.”
