mRNA Vaccine Production on the African Continent: Progress and Promise

Adel is a vaccine and biotechnology expert. He is a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on Combination Vaccines, and has worked with the Egyptian Drug Authority, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Institute for Emerging Vaccines (IEV).

Setting the scene

The COVID-19 pandemic delivered a powerful reminder of global health vulnerabilities: vaccine manufacturing was heavily concentrated in a small number of high-income countries, limiting timely access for the broader international community. Africa, home to more than 1.4 billion people, was particularly affected, as a lack of domestic production capacity, in addition to other factors, left the continent reliant on external supplies.

According to Africa CDC, less than 1% of vaccines administered on the continent are produced locally. To address this gap, the WHO and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), a United Nations-backed public health organization, launched the mRNA Technology Transfer Hub, an initiative aimed at building regional manufacturing capacity in  low- and middle- income countries (LMICs).

The initiative adopted a “hub-and-spoke” model. A central “hub” would develop mRNA know-how, while multiple “spoke” manufacturers across LMICs would receive training, technical assistance, and access to the necessary technologies to enable local production. South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines was designated as the central hub. Fifteen manufacturers in LMICs, including Africa-based partners in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia, were selected as spokes, tasked with building national and regional vaccine manufacturing capacity.

The broader ambition extends beyond responding to COVID-19, aiming to lay the foundation for sustainable, long-term vaccine self-sufficiency. Three years later, some basic questions arise: what are the barriers that continue to challenge the project’s goals? What measures are necessary to ensure long-term resilience and equity in vaccine production on the continent? And how can IP support these goals?

The promise of mRNA technology

mRNA vaccine technology works by using a small piece of genetic code called messenger RNA to teach the body’s cells how to make a protein that triggers an immune response. Unlike traditional vaccines, which often rely on weakened viruses or proteins grown in labs, mRNA vaccines can be developed quickly once the genetic sequence of a virus is known. Their platform-based design means they can be easily adapted to target different diseases, making them a highly versatile tool for both pandemic response and long-standing health challenges like malaria, tuberculosis, and even cancer.

“You can go from laboratory to clinical trials in weeks, not years,” explains Adel. “It is ideal for pandemics as well as diseases that have long been neglected in Africa, like malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV”.

This potential is especially significant given the continent’s growing vulnerability to emerging health threats. Between 2012 to 2022, Africa experienced a 63% increase in zoonotic outbreaks. Further, more than half of the public health events recorded in the WHO African region between 2019 and 2020 were zoonotic in origin, including diseases like Ebola, Lassa fever, and Rift Valley fever. For such threats, speed is essential to limit the health risk.

Challenges on the road to self-sufficiency

Translating potential into practice has proven difficult. One of the most immediate challenges relates to demand. While pandemic-driven urgency initially led to high demand for mRNA vaccines, subsequent years have seen a decline in procurement orders. In 2024, Moderna, a global biopharmaceutical firm, announced a pause in its plans to build an mRNA manufacturing facility in Kenya, citing low vaccine demand from African countries since 2022.

According to Adel, who was a project manager at the WHO-MPP mRNA Technology Transfer Hub Program: “If there is no long-term demand, these investments will not be viable. The infrastructure will exist, but it won’t be used.”

This goes to show that without predictable procurement pipelines, the business case for vaccine manufacturing remains fragile. Manufacturers will have to balance high capital and operational costs against uncertain market prospects. Vaccine research, development, and manufacturing require significant capital, ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. While public health authorities and international donors support the principle of local production, lack of procurement commitments for these local manufacturers act as an impediment.

Another challenge includes limited research and development (R&D) capacity across the continent. According to Africa CDC, many existing African vaccine producers operate as fill-and-finish facilities, which means that they do not produce the vaccine ingredients themselves or develop new vaccines from scratch. It also noted that the capacity to produce antigens locally in 2023 was limited and below the capacity needed to meet regional production targets.

“Without our own R&D, we will always remain dependent,” Adel explains. “We need to develop the skills and systems that allow us to create vaccines from scratch, not just assemble them.”

Workforce shortages further exacerbate the challenge. Biomanufacturing is a highly specialized field that requires trained engineers, regulatory scientists, technicians, and quality control professionals. Adel emphasizes the need for targeted capacity-building. “We need more trained people who understand the entire production and regulatory process”, he says.

Infrastructural barriers, particularly relating to cold chain storage, add another layer of complexity to developing vaccine self-sufficiency. Many mRNA vaccines require ultra-cold storage temperatures, sometimes below -70°C, which are difficult to maintain across many African regions due, in part, to frequent power outages and aging equipment.

This does not mean, however, that cold chain storage has not been deployed on the continent. During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Merck’s Ervebo vaccine was stored at -60°C, thanks to the deployment of cooling devices in Sierra Leone and Guinea. Nevertheless, such technology remains expensive and hard to find, especially during a pandemic.

“Without solving cold chain logistics, mRNA distribution at scale will remain difficult. Doses could expire before reaching the people who need them,” said Adel.

Coordinating policy across ministries – including health, trade, finance, and science – also remains challenging. “The missing link is often inter-ministerial alignment,” Adel says. “You can have the technology, but if procurement, regulation, and investment policies aren’t aligned, manufacturing will not happen.”

The same principle applies to regulatory harmonization. However, efforts led by the African Medicines Agency (AMA), the Africa CDC, and regional economic communities are beginning to converge, offering a pathway toward mutual recognition of product approvals and faster deployment of vaccines across borders. Streamlining these processes can reduce duplication, save time, and ensure that vaccines produced in one country can serve others across the continent.

Importantly, mRNA technology must be repositioned as a broad platform for health innovation, and not merely as a pandemic response tool. African manufacturers are now exploring applications for malaria, dengue, Lassa fever, and even cancer immunotherapies and monoclonal antibodies.

Role of IP in mRNA vaccines

According to a WIPO report titled “Intellectual Property (IP) and Technology Transfer for COVID-19 Vaccines Assessment of the Record” (2023), IP tools that were invoked in the development of mRNA vaccine technologies included: patents, know-how and trade secrets, regulatory data and exclusivity, copyrights, and trademarks.     

According to Adel, with guidance from MPP, manufacturers could proceed with technology acquisition, training, and production without encountering many IP-related obstacles.

“IP was managed well in this case,” he notes. “IP discussions are not usually this smooth. The MPP negotiated on our behalf, and that made all the difference.”

Beyond licenses, the Technology Hub also delivered extensive training in legal and technical aspects of IP management. “We learned how to navigate every step, from licensing, liability, formulation,” says Adel. “That knowledge stays with us. It’s part of building long-term capacity.”

Adel says that: “At the end of the day, national governments need to treat vaccine manufacturing as a public good. Without domestic investment, planning, and coordination, the system won’t hold.”  

WIPO has a unique role in shaping how IP is managed in the public interest. Adel sees WIPO’s value in helping governments understand how IP can be an engine for development “We need guidance on how to structure IP systems that support innovation and access at the same time,” he says. “WIPO can help countries build national frameworks that will provide legal clarity and align with public health priorities.”

According to him, some African nations may lack mature patent systems and regulatory data management. Building local capacity in these areas will be critical to making vaccine manufacturing both viable and sustainable.

What’s next?

Africa now stands at a crossroads. Facilities in Cairo, Dakar, Kigali and elsewhere have been upgraded and personnel have been trained. Whether these resources become permanent fixtures in a self-sufficient African vaccine ecosystem will depend on the policy decisions made in the years ahead. As Adel concludes, “We have the tools. Now we need the will, and the patience, to build something that lasts.”

Already, there are signs that this transformation is beginning to take shape. Several African universities are launching biotechnology programs such as the Stanford East Africa Biodesign program. Donors are also shifting their approach from temporary aid to long-term co-investment.

In Adel’s view, the test of success is whether Africa, as a region, can build the collective infrastructure and institutional capacity required to respond quickly to future health threats, conduct its own research, and reduce dependence on external suppliers.

“We don’t need 50 mRNA plants,” he says. “We need a coherent system, with regional coordination, shared capacities, a skilled workforce, and policies that endure.”

For now, the message is clear. The machinery is in motion, the people are being trained, and the frameworks are taking shape to support the African continent build a resilient and self-sufficient vaccine manufacturing future.