The African Development Bank has finalised a loan of up to $15 million for South African vaccine manufacturer Biovac, adding to a wider international financing package intended to build Africa’s first end-to-end oral cholera vaccine facility.
The funding will support a new multi-vaccine manufacturing plant in Cape Town, which is expected to be completed by 2028 and initially produce oral cholera vaccines before expanding into vaccines for polio, pneumonia and meningitis.
The project is part of a broader expansion that could increase Biovac’s total annual manufacturing capacity to as many as 500 million vaccine doses, according to the African Development Bank.
The bank announced the financing in a statement published on its website, saying the project would help reduce Africa’s overwhelming dependence on vaccines produced outside the continent.
Beyond packaging
