The Rwanda Development Board on behalf of Rwanda has signed a collaboration agreement with the International Finance Cooperation (IFC) that will see developments in the vaccine manufacturing capacity and contribute to expanding vaccine production in Africa.
The IFC will be responsible for conducting diagnostic and feasibility studies to see to it that the right technical and policy frameworks required to establish a world-class vaccine manufacturing supply chain in the country are in place for production of vaccines to be used both locally and for export across the continent.
This new partnership will aim on supporting the country’s recent announcement that it will be working in close association with BioNTech a leading biotech company and the Kenup Foundation to explore establishing end-to-end manufacturing capabilities for the Mran vaccines.
In addition to this, other potential vaccine and pharmaceutical production facilities that include a fill-and-finish facility are expected to share a location with BioNTech in the Kigali Special Economic Zone.
RDB’s Deputy CEO said, ‘’Rwanda aims to produce high quality vaccines for the African market. A production facility like the one envisaged in this collaboration agreement advances this objective. We are please to have IFC as a strategic partner.’’
In his remarks, IFC’S Acting Regional Industry Director for Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Services in the Middle East and Africa Samuel Dzotefe noted that, ‘’A resilient Africa needs to develop and maintain its own reliable vaccine supply and health industry. This partnership with RDB is a vital step towards helping Africa build vaccine manufacturing capacity to respond to Covid and future pandemics’’
