The scramble for Africa 2.0

In hindsight, we can all agree that COVID-19 came with a mix of developments. For one, nobody wants pieces of cloth or fiber across their mouths and noses ever again. On the other hand, working from home on a Monday, having all your food delivered to your doorstep, or consultations with your doctor from the comfort of your home…doesn’t sound so bad.

African governments weren’t left out of the party either. The pandemic appears to have brought suitors their way…all scrambling for a chance to make vaccines on the continent.

…and the list isn’t short

• BioNTech, the less popular of the makers of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine signed an agreement with Rwanda to construct a modular vaccine plant in the country

• Moderna, equally a COVID-19 vaccine maker agreed to establish a similar manufacturing facility for vaccines on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.

• J&J, Novo Nordisk, and AstraZeneca all signed deals transferring technical know-how to local manufacturing companies to produce their vaccines on their behalf.

And then COVID-19 stopped being the in-thing.

Much like Brazil at every World Cup edition these days, COVID-19 made a loud entrance followed by a rather silent exit. And with it the hopes of these companies making serious coin from selling COVID vaccines on the continent.

From J&J and AstraZeneca scaling back their manufacturing deals with local manufacturer, Aspen Pharmaceuticals… to Moderna’s decision to halt building plans for the vaccine plant in Kenya, safe to say this scramble didn’t last as long as the first.

But it isn’t over yet…with BioNTech announcing earlier this month that production in its nearly finished Kigali plant is set to commence in 2025, the German outfit has equally secured $ 150 million in funding to develop its production and distribution network across the continent.

While we may all be wondering what new variant of the COVID-19 virus these vaccines would be tackling, we noticed BioNTech has been publishing a lot of work on a malaria vaccine candidate. Check it out here.