Moderna to Establish COVID-19 Manufacturing Facility in Africa

Moderna is planning to establish a factory for manufacturing its vaccine in Africa, the giant drugmaker announced on Thursday.

Moderna's Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel said: “On behalf of our growing team, partners and shareholders, we are determined to extend Moderna’s societal impact through the investment in a state-of-the-art mRNA manufacturing facility in Africa. While we are still working to increase capacity in our current network to deliver vaccines for the ongoing pandemic in 2022, we believe it is important to invest in the future."

According to the company, the new factory will produce up to 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in the year.

However, Moderna is still examining which country will host the corporation's vaccine production facility.

The news announced by the corporation was widely welcomed in Africa, in light of the continent's need for COVID-19 vaccines.

The Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. John Nkengasong commented: “Vaccine manufacturing is very, very much welcomed news. It is news or efforts that will address our medium term to long term needs. It doesn’t necessarily solve our problem today."