Webinar recording: report on BioNTech Africa

The BioNTech mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Rwanda contributes to greater access to mRNA vaccines in Africa in the short-term, but it lacks plans and commitments to enhance sovereignty and self-reliance of the continent in access to health products in the long-term. This is the main conclusion from the case study on the BioNTech Africa facility. Public funders of future initiatives for regional production must learn from this by attaching conditions to their financing that ensure local ownership of the development and manufacturing of health products. 

The webinar was organized by the organizations that conducted the case study: Wemos, Afya na Haki (Uganda), Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD, Rwanda) and Health Development Initiative (HDI, Rwanda). During the webinar, public health experts and policymakers from both the Global South and North responded to the findings.

Speakers were:

• Mr Antonio Perrelli, global health advocate and researcher at Wemos
• Professor Petro Terblanche, managing director of Afrigen Biologics, host of the WHO mRNA hub in South Africa
• Mr Tom Mulisa, executive director of the Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD), Rwanda
• Dr Aflodis Kagaba, executive director of the Health Development Initiative (HDI), Rwanda
• Ms. Sharonann Lynch, co-director of the Center for Global Health Policy & Politics at the O’Neill Institute
• Prof. William Ampofo, executive director of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI)

The webinar was moderated by Ms. Maria Birungi Kakinda, research officer at Afya na Haki.