Rwanda welcomes Africa's first mobile vaccine-production units

Six mobile vaccine-production units developed by German pharmaceutical company BioNTech have arrived in Rwanda. This is the first such shipment to Africa as the continent seeks to boost local production of mRNA vaccines.

Vaccination against Covid-19 at the Masaka Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda. © REUTERS/Jean Bizimana

The units, made from recycled shipping containers, arrived in the capital Kigali on Monday. Once assembled, they will become a vaccine production hub for jabs against a variety of illnesses.

"This is a historic moment," said BioNTech's chief operating officer Sierk Poetting.

"The technology is scalable. It is also flexible so you can move it anywhere," added Poetting.

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed Africa's huge dependence on imported vaccines.

Less than half of the continent's 1.2 billion people are fully inoculated against Covid-19, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The facility in Kigali -- capable of producing up to 100 million mRNA vaccines per year -- will take at least 12 months before it starts producing doses.

Pioneer for treatments

The containers, dubbed BioNTainers, will also pioneer treatments in the development phase against diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV that are among the leading killers in Africa.

"We are also thinking of cancer therapies that we are developing that could be produced in these BioNTainers," said Poetting.

BioNTech said it had employed nine local scientists, with a plan to increase staffing to at least 100 by next year and eventually have local employees run the facility.

Rwanda will distribute the vaccines to the 55-member African Union bloc.

"This shows the power of science, partnerships and humanity, what people can do to fight a terrifying pandemic," Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana said.

Rwanda's facility is the first of three slated for Africa with deliveries planned for South Africa and Senegal, according to BioNTech.

From left, Holm Keller, Executive Chairman of kENUP Foundation, Sierk Poetting, Biontech Managing Director, Markus Berndt, Director European Investment Bank, Makhtar Diop, Managing Director International Finance Corporation (IFC), Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, John Nkengasong, Africa CDC, Nana Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal and President of the African Union, Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization, Ugur Sahin, Biontech Founder, Senait Fisseha, Head of the Susan Buffet Foundation, Ozlem Tereci, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of BioNTech, and Michel Sidibe, African Union Special Envoy for the Africa Medicine Agency pose for the media in front of a 'Biontainer' during the presentation of manufacturing facilities in Marburg, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. German vaccine maker BioNTech unveiled plans Wednesday to establish manufacturing facilities in Africa that would boost the availability of much-needed medicines on the continent. AP - Andreas Arnold

(With AFP)