Mottley expects benefits of vaccine manufacturing site in Rwanda to trickle down

Prime Minister Mia Mottley on Monday joined African leaders and other high-level officials hailing the inauguration of the BioNTech mRNA-based vaccine manufacturing site in Rwanda as a landmark move towards addressing vaccine equity and preparing for future pandemics.

“We stand here today as a living example of the concrete steps that are being taken to remove the deficit that has existed between citizens who have been unable to access medicines that are available but not affordable, medicines that are there but not accessible,” she said at the launch in Kigali, Rwanda.

“And today marks a concrete step for the people of Africa and its children and its diaspora to be able to turn the corner not just in the fight against pandemics, which we have all learned is absolutely critical, but equally, simply in our desire to ensure that our people can have access to the best possible therapeutics and biologics that are available on this planet.”

The BioNTech facility is based on the company’s high-tech, digitally enabled modular manufacturing units called BioNTainers. It will produce mRNA-based vaccines for the African continent, including the COVID-19 vaccine and, if approved, other mRNA vaccines for diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria. The facility will also cover research and development, clinical trials, manufacturing and local training of specialised personnel.

Mottley recalled that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Barbados and other Caribbean countries had virtually no access to critical medical supplies and equipment and had to rely on the assistance of the Africa medical supplies platform.

“And why? Our orders were simply too small to matter. Our capacity to be able to access from ventilators right back through to therapeutics to basic PPE simply was not there and very often, even when we paid, orders were withdrawn at the very last minute. I pray that no future prime minister or president should have to endure what we endured during the pandemic,” she said.

Mottley stressed that just as Africa has made the move to manufacture critical vaccines, the Caribbean and Latin America must develop their capacity. She appealed for the support of African leaders and other international partners in this regard.

She said: “And to ensure that as we work together, we work in a complementary fashion so that together we can address the shortages that exist for the people of the South. This is going to require cooperation and financing and that is why we thank the European Union and the global gateway for stepping up to the plate. It is going to require a transfer of technology and that is why we thank the owners of BioNTech and all others who will come to the table in the future.”

The prime minister, the co-chair of the One Health Initiative, warned that countries must act now to be able to respond to anti-microbial resistance, which is responsible for the third largest number of deaths globally.

“If we don’t put ourselves at the front line of fighting these battles, then our people shall be victims and shall pay the ultimate price,” she said.

Mottley expressed her gratitude to the Rwanda Food and Drug Authority which presented authorities with a Biopharma White Book and signed a memorandum of understanding in Barbados last month to develop a pharmaceutical sector in collaboration with Guyana.

The Biopharma White Book provides a strategic roadmap for the development and growth of the pharmaceutical industry.

“As we go forward in this very complex world. The notion that our citizens have access to drugs that can effectively treat them for cancer or autoimmune diseases is as much a driver for us as is the lethal vaccine equity. And I, therefore, look forward to our being able to work in a cooperative fashion with all who are here, recognising that if we don’t make these steps at this point in time, we shall be takers rather than shapers of our civilisation and rather than firm craftsmen of our fate.”

Kenya’s President Kagame underscored his Government’s intention to provide support to the Caribbean.

“Rwanda and Barbados have been advising and supporting each other closely on Pharma-manufacturing. We would like to see much deeper cooperation between Africa and the Caribbean,” he said. “In the end, we all have something to offer each other.” (SD)