- The African Development Bank has approved up to $15 million for South Africa's BioVac to expand vaccine manufacturing capacity amid growing pressure to increase local pharmaceutical production.
- The facility will increase BioVac's annual production to 500 million doses and become Africa's first end-to-end oral cholera vaccine manufacturing plant.
- This investment reflects a broader shift among development financiers towards supporting vaccine factories, technology transfer and regional production capacity
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a loan of up to $15 million to the South African Biological and Vaccine Institute (BioVac) to support the construction of a multi-vaccine manufacturing facility in Cape Town, as Africa's vaccine production ambitions move from policy commitments to industrial investment. The project will expand BioVac's annual manufacturing capacity to 500 million doses and establish Africa's first end-to-end oral cholera vaccine production facility, which is expected to begin operations in 2028.
The facility will produce oral cholera, inactivated polio, pneumococcal and meningitis vaccines through technology-transfer partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies and research institutes, including Sanofi, International Vaccine Institute, Biological E, euBiologics and Bharat Biotech. The AfDB financing adds to a broader funding package that also includes the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Investment Bank, the Gates Foundation and Gavi's African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA), which provides incentives for African manufacturers that achieve international quality standards and supply vaccines through global procurement systems.
This investment marks a shift in development finance assistance to Africa's health sector, moving from emergency vaccine procurement to financing manufacturing infrastructure, technology transfer and production capacities. Despite representing about 18% of the global population, Africa still imports more than 99% of the vaccines it uses, a gap highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic when supply shortages and export restrictions delayed access to vaccines across the continent.
The project supports the African Union's goal to produce 60% of Africa's vaccine needs locally by 2040. For BioVac, the expansion represents a transition from primarily fill and finish operations, where imported vaccine ingredients are packaged locally, to more full manufacturing capabilities. The company has supplied more than 450 million doses across Southern Africa since 2003.
The BioVac investment is part of a broader effort to develop regional vaccine manufacturing hubs across Africa. Rwanda is ramping up BioNTech's mRNA manufacturing facility, Senegal is expanding the MADIBA vaccine manufacturing platform at the Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Egypt is scaling up production through Vaxera, while South Africa is continuing to strengthen its pharmaceutical manufacturing base through BioVac and Aspen Pharmacare.
Development institutions are increasingly combining factory financing with mechanisms aimed at solving a major challenge for African vaccine producers: securing reliable demand once production begins. Gavi's $1.2 billion African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator provides milestone payments to manufacturers who receive additional incentives linked to WHO prequalification and vaccine supply commitments, helping to create a more sustainable market for locally produced vaccines.
The expansion also comes as African countries seek greater capacity to respond to recurring health emergencies, including the cholera, Mpox, Ebola and Marburg outbreaks. By building domestic manufacturing capacity, governments and development partners aim to reduce reliance on imported vaccines while strengthening the continent's ability to respond more quickly to future health crises.
By Cynthia Abbott Takang