BioNtech Ready to Ship First MRNA Vaccine Factory Kit to Africa

(Reuters) – Germany’s BioNTech said on Wednesday it has completed construction of its first vaccine factory made from shipping containers, and they are being sent to Africa.

The COVID-19 vaccine maker said the so-called ‘BioNTainer’ is expected to arrive in Kigali, Rwanda in the first quarter of 2023.

In February, the company planned to develop a vaccine factory using shipping containers and send it to Africa as assembly kits to ease what the World Health Organization has described as huge disparities in global COVID-19 vaccine access.

BioNtech said the facility at Kigali will house the first BioNTainer, which is expected to become part of a wider supply network spanning several African nations that will have access to the mRNA-based vaccine.

(Reporting by Khushi Mandowara in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

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