To accelerate the COVID-19 manufacturing capacity across South Africa and limit the dependence on imports, a consortium of nine finance and development institutions have reportedly declared collaborating with Biovac in Cape Town.
Apparently, the South African continent will support expansion of vaccine manufacturing for Biovac.
Biovac is a prominent bio-pharmaceutical firm and a renowned vaccine manufacturer located in South Africa.
As per reports, the firm is the part of a consortium of organizations which have collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO) and its COVAX partners to set up the first coronavirus mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa.
Meanwhile, Biovac had also made a deal with Pfizer back in July 2021 to manufacture around 100 million Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine doses, only to be used in Africa.
According to sources, Biovac is aiming to spread its vaccine production capacity across Africa via its current production of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine and gradually shifting to daily use vaccines as well.
For the uninitiated, this growth is aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development (SDG) Goal 3 on Good Health and Well Being by enhancing access to effective, safe, affordable, and quality important vaccines and medicines.
Furthermore, the development will also run parallel with United Nation’s SDGs 8 and 9, focusing on revamping economic prospects and advancing technological capabilities of the pharmaceutical production sector throughout Africa.
Claims have been made that Biovac, to initiate the expansion and augment regional vaccine manufacturing across Africa, will require an investment of nearly $150 million.
For the record, members of the consortium will support Biovac’s future vaccine pipeline expansion and production plant capacity.
It has been speculated that the consortium includes participation from African Development bank, the German development finance institution DEG, UK’s development financial institution, European Investment Bank, and many others.