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Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Macky Sall of Senegal, Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission, President of European Investment Bank (EIB) Werner Hoyer, and CEO and co-founder of BioNTech Uğur Şahin, have met in Berlin, Germany, to discuss the development of sustainable vaccine production for Africa.

BioNTech, the co-developer of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, affirmed its intention to manufacture any vaccines arising from its development of vaccine candidates to fight malaria and tuberculosis on the African continent.

The meeting, which was convened by the kENUP Foundation on behalf of BioNTech, took place on the margins of the G20 Compact with Africa Summit hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on August 27, 2021. Also in attendance were Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Africa Regional Director.

BioNTech’s malaria project is part of the eradicateMalaria initiative, led by the kENUP Foundation, to accelerate the eradication of malaria. The kENUP Foundation is a non-profit public benefit foundation supporting research-based innovation in the wider health industries for societal benefit. Following the guidance of the WHO and the eradicateMalaria Scientific Advisory Board, further projects by various companies may be considered under the eradicateMalaria scheme.

The company has started evaluating manufacturing options in Rwanda and Senegal following the guidance of the African Union.