Rwanda Receives Mobile Units to Produce Vaccines

The units called BioNTainers, which are made from recycled shipping containers, have arrived in Rwanda's capital Kigali. When the units are assembled, they will set up a hub producing vaccines in order to fight illnesses that are widely spread in Africa.

Rwanda received six mobile vaccine production units developed by German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, Rwanda's president has said on his social media webpage.

The BioNTainers are expected to begin producing vaccines in about 12 to 18 months after they have been set up.

"Historic milestone today as the first BioNTainers arrived in Rwanda, exactly 3 years since the first case of COVID-19 was detected in our country. This system will allow end-to-end mRNA vaccine production in Africa for the first time," Rwandan President Paul Kagame said on his social media webpage.

Authorities plan to make a vaccine production hub to counter a number of diseases. The facility will be able to produce up to 100 million mRNA vaccines a year.

The BioNTainers will also pioneer treatments of such diseases as malaria, tuberculosis, or HIV in the development phase.

The shipment is the first of its kind for Africa. However, BioNTech plans to send similar facilities to South Africa and Senegal.