BioNTech Wants To Produce Anti-Malaria, TB Vaccines In Africa

German vaccine maker BioNTech wants to produce malaria and tuberculosis vaccines in Africa, Burkhard Fraune reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Photo Insert: Upon having been invited by the Kenup Foundation, BioNTech CEO Uğur Şahin met with President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, President of Senegal Macky Sall, and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The company said on Friday that it was examining the establishment of sustainable production facilities in Rwanda and Senegal. "Our goal is to develop vaccines in Africa and to establish sustainable production capacities for vaccines in order to jointly improve medical care," CEO Ugur Sahin said.

BioNTech's technology could also be applied beyond Covid-19, Sahin explained. The company is already working on vaccines against tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV. "There is no guarantee that these projects will be successful," Sahin said. "But we have to be prepared for success."

Sahin spoke about the plans after meeting Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Senegalese President Macky Sall, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the sidelines of the G20 Compact with Africa economic conference.

The initiative was launched in 2017 under the German G20 presidency to promote private investment in Africa and includes 12 African countries. According to the initiative, the countries of the African Union currently import 99 percent of their vaccines. By 2040, this figure should be only 40 percent.

Amid the coronavirus crisis, the African Union asked Europe in July to do more to address global inequities in vaccine distribution.

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