(Ecofin Agency) - Currently, 99% of the vaccines used in Africa are imported, according to the World Bank.  African leaders are moving to reduce that proportion by a minimum of 60% over the next 20 years. In that regard, they are turning to partners to set up vaccine factories.

The Pasteur Institute of Dakar (IPD) and the African Finance Corporation (IFC) will partner for the construction of a vaccine factory in Senegal.  The information was disclosed last Wednesday in a press release published on the IFC’s website.

The US$222 million infrastructure is intended to boost "the IPD's vaccine manufacturing capacity." In the short term, it will produce Covid-19 vaccines but, in the medium-term, it will start producing other vaccines, the press release stresses.  In the long-term, the plant will be able to produce 300 million doses of vaccines -both for Covid-19 and other diseases- destined for African countries. 

"The pandemic has taught us how risky it is to depend on the rest of the world for the supply of essential goods and services. The IFC is committed to helping African countries build their production capacity, especially when it comes to vaccines," said Makhtar Diop, IFC’s Managing Director. 

The African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) estimates that only 15.3% of Africans are fully vaccinated against covid-19, while more than 65% of the available stock has already been used. This situation illustrates the high vaccine need on the continent. To address that situation, countries are taking measures, including partnerships with laboratories, to produce vaccines locally. 

In January, Morocco launched the construction of a pan-African vaccine factory that will be able to produce 16 million vaccines annually by 2024. Three months earlier, pharmaceutical firm BioNTech signed an agreement with Senegal and Rwanda to set up its vaccine factories on their national territories.  

In mid-2022, BioNTech will start delivering vaccine manufacturing facilities to Senegal, Rwanda, and South Africa. Moderna has also announced the construction of a vaccine manufacturing facility in Kenya. 

All these initiatives are expected to move the continent closer to Africa CDC’s goal, which is to produce 60% of the vaccines used in the continent locally by 2040. 

As a reminder, on Friday, February 18, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia will be the recipients of messenger RNA vaccine hubs.

Jean-Marc Gogbeu