Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jul 22, 2025

"Fill And Finish": Pfizer BioNTech To Produce COVID-19 Vaccines In South Africa

"Fill And Finish": Pfizer BioNTech To Produce COVID-19 Vaccines In South Africa

Coronavirus: Under the agreement, Cape Town-based Biovac will complete the last step in the manufacturing process of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, known as "fill and finish".

Covid vaccine makers BioNTech and Pfizer said Wednesday they would produce their jab in South Africa from 2022, a first for the continent that could see much-needed immunisation drives pick up speed.

Poor countries have fallen behind richer ones in the race to protect people from the coronavirus, sparking widespread criticism of drug firms and governments of wealthy nations.

Under the agreement, Cape Town-based Biovac will complete the last step in the manufacturing process of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, known as "fill and finish", the companies said in a statement.

The project will take time to get off the ground however, with the first African-finished Pfizer vaccines not expected before next year.

Once up and running, Biovac is set to churn out more than 100 million doses annually that will be distributed to the 55 countries in the African Union.

"This is a critical step forward in strengthening sustainable access to a vaccine in the fight against this tragic, worldwide pandemic," said Biovac chief executive officer Morena Makhoana.

"Technical transfer, on-site development and equipment installation activities will begin immediately."

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called the partnership "a breakthrough" for African nations.

"The protection of Africans is a necessary and critical contribution to the protection of humanity as a whole," said Ramaphosa, who has previously warned that the hoarding of Covid-19 shots by wealthy countries could lead to a "vaccine apartheid".

The reaction from the World Health Organization was muted.

"We welcome all initiatives to increase Covid-19 vaccine production in the future but immediate action is needed now," a spokesman said.

In low-income countries, "only one percent of people have received at least one dose, compared with more than half of people in high-income countries", he added.

The coronavirus vaccine developed by Germany's BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer, based on experimental mRNA technology, was the first to be approved in the West late last year.

Studies have shown it is highly effective against Covid-19, including against newer variants.

Another plant in South Africa is already handling the fill and finish process for the Covid-19 shot developed by pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson, which uses a traditional viral vector-based method.

Debate over patents


Calls have grown for pharma companies to waive patents on their life-saving jabs to speed up the pace of inoculations globally.

Washington and Paris have backed the suggestion, but the vaccine companies themselves are fiercely opposed.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also said that suspending intellectual property rights could stifle innovation and would not resolve the lack of manufacturing capacity in the short term.

She has instead argued for licensing agreements and partnerships between vaccine makers and local firms, the approach taken by BioNTech and Pfizer.

"We aim to enable people on all continents to manufacture and distribute our vaccine while ensuring the quality of the manufacturing process and the doses," said Ugur Sahin, BioNTech's co-founder and CEO.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said weakening intellectual property "will only discourage the type of unprecedented innovation which brought vaccines forward in record time and make it harder for companies to collaborate going forward".

Vaccine hub


Pfizer/BioNTech said they had so far shipped more than one billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to over 100 countries or territories, including through the Covax vaccine-sharing programme.

The Covax scheme, backed by the WHO and heavily relied on by African countries, has so far delivered far fewer doses than expected.

South Africa has the highest number of Covid-19 cases and fatalities in Africa and is currently battling a third wave.

Ramaphosa last month announced a plan to turn his country into an mRNA vaccine hub, saying Africans "cannot continue to rely on vaccines that are made outside of Africa because they never come".

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
×