Moderna Establishes mRNA Facility in Kenya, the Company’s First in Africa
Manufacturing plant is expected to produce 500 million vaccine doses annually.
Moderna has finalized an agreement to establish an mRNA manufacturing facility in the Republic of Kenya, making it the company's first one in Africa. In partnership with the government of the Republic of Kenya, Moderna will be constructing a state-of-the-art mRNA facility that will be capable of manufacturing up to 500 million doses of vaccines each year.
The vaccine maker expects the new facility to enable drug substance and drug product manufacturing for Kenya and the African continent. In addition, the aforementioned plant will have surge capacity to rapidly scale and respond to public health emergencies on the continent and across the globe.
"The finalization of our agreement with the government of the Republic of Kenya is a key pillar of our global public health strategy, where we hope to bring mRNA innovation to the people of Africa in areas of high unmet need, such as acute respiratory infections, as well as persistent infectious diseases like HIV and outbreak threats such as Zika and Ebola," says Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna. "This also demonstrates our confidence in the investment climate in Kenya and the importance of utilizing mRNA technology to build resilience in healthcare security in Africa.”
