President Akufo-Addo is encouraging African leaders to sustain the momentum in the continent’s efforts to develop and manufacture vaccines domestically.
He has expressed optimism and described the progress made in the last year as encouraging, particularly in advancing the Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing Project.
The President cited the successful initiation of technical work as a significant step forward in this endeavor.
President Akufo-Addo addressed a gathering of African leaders in Kigali, Rwanda, during the inauguration of a BioNTech Vaccine Manufacturing Site in the Central African country.
“Today is a reaffirmation of our commitment to the rest of the world that the construction of an end-to-end vaccine manufacturing facility – involving Rwanda, Senegal and my own country of Ghana – is truly underway,” he said.
President Nana Akufo-Addo said the import of the Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing Project meant “we have to work together”.
“For us in Ghana, the Project fits perfectly with our roadmap for domestic vaccine development and manufacturing.
“Ghana is playing her role to this end, and I assure you once again of our determination to make the Project work successfully,” the President noted.
The development of the BioNTech Vaccine Manufacturing Site in Rwanda was funded by BioNTech, a German COVID-19 vaccine maker, at a cost of approximately US$150 million. BioNTech, known for developing one of the most widely used COVID-19 shots in collaboration with Pfizer, plans to enable African countries, including Rwanda, to produce its Comirnaty-branded vaccine under BioNTech’s supervision.
The mRNA vaccine factory in Rwanda, scheduled to begin production in 2025, will be the first of its kind established by a foreign company on the African continent. The facility is equipped to manufacture various mRNA-based vaccines tailored to the specific needs of African Union member states, encompassing vaccines such as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and BioNTech’s experimental vaccines for malaria and tuberculosis.
This initiative is significant for Africa, where vaccine dependency is prevalent, and it addresses a crucial aspect of health infrastructure on the continent. The computational discovery and therapeutic drug platforms employed by BioNTech contribute to the rapid development of novel biopharmaceuticals.
Ghana’s research institutions are undergoing capacity-building efforts to enhance their readiness for the discovery and development of vaccines and other biologicals. President Nana Akufo-Addo highlighted the collaborative efforts of DEK Vaccines Limited with BioNTech-Rwanda and BioNTech-Germany to achieve the country’s goals in filling, finishing, and packaging essential drug products.
The President announced that Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) is on track to attain global benchmarking maturity level four, signifying a high standard in regulatory practices. Additionally, he mentioned the FDA’s support for Rwanda’s FDA in its pursuit of reaching the World Health Organization’s maturity level three, indicating a commitment to international regulatory standards.
President Akufo-Addo emphasized the strong collaboration between Ghana and Rwanda in research, citing a recent visit by a Rwandan team to research institutions in Ghana.
The Rwandan project follows President Nana Akufo-Addo’s groundbreaking ceremony in Accra, Ghana, for the DEK Vaccine Manufacturing Factory just eight months earlier. The DEK project, led by the European Union (EU) and DEK Vaccines Limited, a consortium of Ghanaian pharmaceutical companies, aims to enhance Ghana’s vaccine production capacity to 600 million doses annually, covering vaccines for diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, rotavirus, and cholera. The project encompasses the entire vaccine value chain.