KENYA – Biotech company Moderna has finalized an agreement with the government of Kenya to set up a US$500 million mRNA vaccine facility in Nairobi.
The facility will be Moderna’s first mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa.
Moderna’s entry into Kenya and Africa signals Kenya’s and the continent’s continued attractiveness to foreign direct investment.
“This will be the only such facility on the African continent,” Kenyan President William Ruto said at an American Chamber of Commerce regional trade summit.
He said Moderna’s investment “will be a catalyst for the medical and pharmaceutical industry not just in Kenya but in our continent”.
Moderna said in a separate statement that the state-of-the-art facility would make up to 500 million doses of vaccines each year, without giving a date for when production would start.
“We hope to bring mRNA innovation to the people of Africa in areas of high unmet need, such as acute respiratory infections, as well as persistent infectious diseases like HIV and outbreak threats such as Zika and Ebola,” said Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel.
The company said it now has commitments to establish mRNA manufacturing facilities in Kenya, the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Moderna and other vaccine manufacturers hope that mRNA technology — which provokes an immune response by delivering genetic molecules containing the code for key parts of a pathogen into human cells — can accelerate immunisation development and production and heighten efficacy.
Moderna’s vaccine manufacturing facility will be set up in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2015.
SEZs are designated geographical areas where certain business-enabling policies are adopted and applied by the Government to incentivise investments. In recent months, the Government has emphasized its intent to attract investments into SEZs to boost manufacturing and increase foreign direct investment.
The Government has announced that it aims to increase foreign direct investments to US$10 billion annually from US$448 million.
The development and operation of this facility will move Kenya closer to its target of having manufacturing contribute at least 20% of its Gross Domestic Product, and more importantly, to vaccine self-reliance.
The COVID-19 pandemic greatly highlighted Africa’s reliance on imported vaccines and medicines, and the need for Africa to develop vaccine and medicine resilience.
Moderna’s entry into Africa represents a monumental step in strengthening Kenya’s and Africa’s pandemic preparedness and the capacity to meet local and regional vaccine and medicine needs.
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