By AFP
U.S. vaccine maker Moderna announced Monday that it would build its first mRNA jab-manufacturing facility in Africa after signing an agreement with Kenya’s government to produce up to 500 million doses a year.
The company said it expected to invest $500 million in the new facility, which will produce vaccines for the continent of 1.3 billion people whose population has been largely shut out of access to COVID-19 jabs.
“Battling the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years has provided a reminder of the work that must be done to ensure global health equity. Moderna is committed to being a part of the solution,” the company’s CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement.
Moderna said it hopes to use the facility to supply doses of its COVID-19 jab to African nations as early as next year, in a bid to boost vaccine coverage on the world’s least immunized continent.
“Moderna’s investment in Kenya will help advance equitable global vaccine access and is emblematic of the structural developments that will enable Africa to become an engine of sustainable global growth,” Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said.
Moderna’s announcement follows a decision by the World Health Organization to create a global mRNA vaccine hub in South Africa last year, with Kenya among six African nations selected to be the first recipients of technology aimed at enabling local manufacturers to make jabs.