General Paul Kagame claims his agenda to build a vaccine manufacturing plant is advanced. In an interview with Rwanda Television on September 6, 2021, Kagame even claimed that his plan for vaccine manufacturing was not triggered by the COVID19 pandemic, but is part of a broader self-sustainability strategy. Fast forward to January 19, 2022. South Africa launched a vaccine manufacturing plant in Cape Town, a US$200 million partnership with Patrick Soon-Shiong, the South African-born founder of NantWorks, an American multinational biotechnology firm.
This is the first in Africa that COVID19 vaccines will be produced from start to finish. This is a second vaccine manufacturing facility in Cape Town – South African biopharmaceutical company The Biovac Institute manufactures and distributes Pfizer and BioNTech, a partnership announced in July 2021. A third vaccine effort involves South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare which already assembles the J&J COVID-19 vaccine in Port Elizabeth. That facility has a capacity of 220 million vaccines per year and is selling them in South Africa and across Africa. So, where is Kagame’s vaccine plant? Stay tuned.
By David Himbara