Pfizer and BioNTech Announce Collaboration with Biovac to Manufacture and Distribute COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Within Africa

On July 21, 2021, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced the signing of a letter of intent with The Biovac Institute Ltd to manufacture the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for distribution within the African Union.

Biovac will utilize Pfizer’s and BioNTech’s global COVID-19 vaccine supply chain and manufacturing network, which will now span three continents and feature more than 20 manufacturing facilities. They will receive drug substances from facilities in Europe.

Biovac’s Cape Town facility is expected to be incorporated into the vaccine supply chain by the end of 2021, while manufacturing of finished doses is slated to commence in 2022. Annual production will exceed 100 million finished doses once full operational capacity is reached. All doses be exclusively distributed within the 55 states of the African Union.

“From day one, our goal has been to provide fair and equitable access of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to everyone, everywhere,” said Albert Bourla, chairman and chief executive officer at Pfizer, in a press release. “Our latest collaboration with Biovac is a shining example of the tireless work being done, in this instance to benefit Africa. We will continue to explore and pursue opportunities to bring new partners into our supply chain network, including in Latin America, to further accelerate access of COVID-19 vaccines.”

Pfizer and Biovac have worked together since 2015 on the sterile formulation, fill/finish, and distribution of the Prevenar 13 vaccine.

To date, Pfizer and BioNTech have shipped more than 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to over 100 countries and territories. They have also pledged to supply 500 million doses to the US Government at a not-for-profit price, which the US will in turn donate to COVAX 92 Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) countries.

Source: Pfizer