Kigali (dpa) – The first section of a vaccine production facility for the Mainz-based company Biontech has been inaugurated in Rwanda’s capital Kigali. The modular complex will produce vaccines for Africa from 2025 onwards. It is not yet known which mRNA vaccine will be produced when the facility first goes into operation. “We’re in clinical trials for the various vaccine candidates against malaria, mpox and tuberculosis,” said Biontech CEO Ugur Sahin, adding that it would be a few years before it was possible to produce vaccines against tuberculosis and malaria. COVID-19 vaccines can also be produced at the facility.
At the opening ceremony, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock promised Africa the support of Germany and the EU. “The fight against disease is not a short-distance race that any country in the world can win in a solo sprint,” she said at a meeting with her colleague Vincent Biruta. At the inauguration, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame recalled the shortage of vaccines in Africa during the pandemic. A new phase of cooperation was now beginning, he said – “and we need more of it”. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that a second facility was to be built in Dakar in cooperation with Senegal. Senegal’s President Macky Sall also attended the ceremony.