BioNTech, the drug company that produced an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 with Pfizer, has developed a new type of vaccine factory for Africa. The biotech has miniaturized all the processes needed to manufacture mRNA vaccines into a modular unit. The factory, made up of two groups of six 40-foot containers, can be loaded on trucks, planes, boats or trains. Once on site, the so-called ‘bioNTainer’, containing the 50,000 steps needed to manufacture a mRNA vaccine, can be assembled for plug-and-play manufacturing. The first containers will arrive in Rwanda and Senegal in the second half of 2022 and potentially also in South Africa.

About 99% of Africa’s vaccines against all diseases are imported. BioNTech’s CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin hopes the containers will address the manufacturing problem for COVID-19 vaccine production and, in the future, easily adapt to encode new variants, or to manufacture tuberculosis, malaria and cancer vaccines. When fully operational, each unit can produce up to 50 million doses a year following ‘good manufacturing process’ standards. ‘BioNTech’s modular production system opens up a new horizon for global vaccine equity,” said Paul Kagame, president of the Republic of Rwanda. The Mainz, Germany-based biotech will make the vaccines available at cost and on a non-profit basis, and plans to collaborate with partners “to ensure it is affordable for people in African countries,” said Sahin at a press conference announcing the prototype container module. BioNTech is working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to complement its existing mRNA technology transfer hub in South Africa, and the European Union has pledged a $170 billion investment package in Africa.

Also in February, Afrigen Biologics & Vaccines, a WHO-backed tech transfer consortium in South Africa, announced that it has nearly completed its own version of Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 jab. The African vaccine will be manufactured using publicly available sequences and will not include assistance from Moderna. It will enter clinical trials in the fourth quarter of this year.