EU hopes to avoid criticism after BioNTech announces Africa’s first COVID vaccine site – EURACTIV.com

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The European Union hopes to avoid criticism over its distribution of COVID vaccines by African states, after German pharmaceutical giant BioNTech announced on Tuesday (October 26) that it would establish its first African COVID vaccine production site early in the year. next year, with the support of the EU.

Speaking at a press conference in Kigali, Rwanda, following a two-day meeting between EU and African Union foreign ministers, the European Commissioner for International Partnerships , Jutta Urpilainen, said the first site would be built in Rwanda.

The facility, which will initially have a production capacity of 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine per year, will be partly funded by the EU, thanks to a loan from the European Investment Bank of 22 million euros and an EU grant of 5 million euros.

BioNTech, which has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Rwandan government and the Institut Pasteur in Dakar in Senegal, added that the two sites would also build facilities for the final stages of production and bottling in a process called filling and finishing, which means that all aspects of production would take place on site.

The German group said it was also in talks with South Africa’s Biovac Institute to expand its current manufacturing partnership. This summer, Biovac was at the center of a row over the export of bottled COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa to Europe, which embarrassed the European Commission.

The move was immediately hailed by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who said the production of COVID vaccines “for Africa in Africa” ​​was the “only viable long-term solution to any pandemic. “.

Currently, around 5% of Africans are fully vaccinated against Covid.

However, Anna Marriott, politician for the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said the initiative, while a positive development, was “far too late on the part of a company that killed the pandemic.”

“To propose to start building a facility in Africa only in the middle of next year that will at one point produce only 50 million doses – enough for only 2% of the continent’s population – is laughable when ‘only one of their factories in Germany produces more. than that every month, ”she added.

However, the initiative could help turn the tide of criticism from African leaders, who accused Europe of practicing “vaccine nationalism” by delaying supplying surplus vaccines. Only a fraction of the surplus vaccines promised by the EU reached African countries, while supplies from the international immunization program, COVAX, were also slow to arrive.

The EU has also led opposition to South Africa and India’s campaign to have intellectual property rights on COVID vaccines temporarily removed to allow African states to produce their own versions of the vaccines. .

Speaking at the start of the ministerial meeting, Monique Nsanzabaganwa, the vice-chair of the African Union Commission, urged the EU to recognize vaccination certificates for Africans wishing to travel to Europe, arguing that this could help to convince more Africans to get vaccinated. .

“To support these vaccination efforts, the recognition by our European counterparts of vaccines and vaccination certificates issued by the authorities of the Member States in accordance with the recommendations of the Africa CDC is relevant,” said Nsanzabaganwa.

“This will allow our brother continents to be able to continue to engage in a productive way, in particular at the economic level”, she added.

Last month, the UK announced a policy that would only accept COVID-19 vaccine certificates from a handful of African countries, and the EU is under pressure not to impose similar restrictive measures.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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