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.
South African vaccine manufacturer Biovac is developing a multi-vaccine facility in Cape Town that is expected to begin production in 2028.
- The African Development Bank has finalised a loan of up to $15 million for South African vaccine manufacturer Biovac.
- The financing will support a Cape Town facility intended to produce vaccines from start to finish, rather than merely packaging imported vaccine material.
- Biovac plans to manufacture vaccines for cholera, polio, pneumonia and meningitis as part of an expansion that could lift its total capacity to 500 million doses annually.
- The project is part of Africa’s attempt to reduce its dependence on imported vaccines and build a commercially sustainable pharmaceutical industry.
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.
DON’T MISS THIS:EU’s $103 million push positions Rwanda as Africa’s next vaccine powerhouse
The significance of the project lies not only in the number of doses Biovac expects to produce, but also in how the vaccines will be manufactured.
Much of Africa’s existing vaccine activity has historically been concentrated in “fill and finish” operations, where vaccine material produced elsewhere is imported, placed into
Biovac’s new facility is intended to provide end-to-end production, including the manufacture of the vaccine substance itself.
Once operational, Biovac is expected to become Africa’s first end-to-end manufacturer of an oral cholera vaccine and South Africa’s first domestic producer of an inactivated polio vaccine.
The AfDB loan will support Biovac’s expansion as Africa seeks to reduce its dependence on imported vaccines.Pulse Nigeria
The company is developing the products through technology-transfer partnerships with international manufacturers and research institutions, including Sanofi, the International Vaccine Institute, Biological E, EuBiologics and Bharat Biotech.
Biovac signed a licensing and technology-transfer agreement with the International Vaccine Institute in 2022 to develop and manufacture an oral cholera vaccine for African and international markets.
The first phase of the new facility is projected to produce between 30 million and 40 million oral cholera vaccine doses annually. The wider expansion of Biovac’s manufacturing operations could eventually lift its combined capacity to 500 million doses across several products.
Development lenders assemble financing
The AfDB’s loan is one component of a much larger financing effort involving several development institutions and global health organisations.
DON’T MISS THIS:Europe commits $12.5 billion to power South Africa’s green and industrial future
In April, the European Investment Bank, European Commission and International Finance Corporation announced a package that included a €75 million quasi-equity investment backed by the European Union and an additional $20 million in senior financing from the IFC.
The quasi-equity facility is being provided through the Human Development Accelerator, an EU-backed programme implemented by the EIB in partnership with the Gates Foundation.
Biovac also secured $20 million from French development finance institutions Agence Française de Développement and Proparco as part of its fundraising for the expansion.
The company has been working for several years to assemble the capital required for its manufacturing programme. In 2022, Biovac and a group of development partners estimated that about $150 million would be needed to expand its existing plant and introduce new vaccine production capabilities.
The involvement of several development lenders reflects one of the central difficulties facing Africa’s vaccine ambitions: manufacturing plants require large upfront investments, lengthy regulatory approvals and guaranteed buyers before they can operate sustainably.
Commercial lenders are often reluctant to finance those risks without support from governments, development banks or global vaccine procurement agencies.
ADVERTISEMENT
Biovac’s new facility will initially produce oral cholera vaccines before expanding into polio, pneumonia and meningitis vaccines.Pulse Ghana
Africa currently imports about 99 per cent of the vaccines it consumes, leaving the continent vulnerable to supply disruptions, export restrictions and competition from wealthier buyers during global health emergencies.
That dependence became particularly visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many African countries struggled to secure vaccines while richer economies bought large quantities directly from manufacturers.
In response, the African Union set a target for the continent to manufacture 60 per cent of the vaccines it requires locally by 2040.
However, building factories alone will not guarantee that target is achieved. African manufacturers must also obtain regulatory approval, compete on price with established producers in Asia and Europe, and secure long-term procurement commitments from governments and international health organisations.
The African vaccine market could be worth between $2.8 billion and $5.6 billion by 2040, but manufacturers will require predictable demand to justify the cost of establishing and maintaining production lines.
DON’T MISS THIS:South Africa secures Europe-backed $90 million vaccine plant deal amid hantavirus outbreak fears, 7,000 jobs expected
A shortage Biovac could help close
Biovac’s initial focus on cholera comes as outbreaks and vaccine shortages have placed pressure on the global stockpile.
In 2024, countries requested 61 million oral cholera vaccine doses from the global stockpile, while only 40 million were approved for emergency campaigns as supply continued to lag demand.
Global annual production subsequently increased from about 35 million doses in 2022 to nearly 70 million in 2025, allowing preventive vaccination campaigns to resume in February 2026 after years in which doses had largely been reserved for emergency responses.
Biovac’s proposed production of 30 million to 40 million oral cholera vaccine doses a year could therefore provide a substantial newcted by outbreaks
Its Cape Town vaccine began clinical trials in South Africa in 2025, with testing conducted in Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Subject to successful trials and regulatory approvals, the product is expected to become available from 2028.
However, vaccines remain only one part of cholera control. The disease is primarily driven by unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene infrastructure, meaning vaccination must be combined with investment in clean water and public health systems.
Biovac expects its wider expansion programme to increase its total vaccine manufacturing capacity to as many as 500 million doses annually.For years Kennedy has been sounding the alarm about what he says is a “toxic” type of mercury in vaccines called thimerosal. But independent scientists have thoroughly checked this out, and there’s no evidence that thimerosal in vaccines is bad for us — and it’s in very few vaccines in the first place.Thimerosal used to be put in multidose vials of vaccines to prevent contamination. But all children’s vaccines in the US have been available without thimerosal since 2001.The specific type of mercury that thimerosal breaks down to in the body is called ethylmercury, which is chemically different and far less potent than the methylmercury in the Earth’s crust and in tuna fish.Small amounts of thimerosal preservatives are still used in some vaccines (but not the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines). For example, a few multishot flu vaccines still use thimerosal, but many of today’s vaccines come in a single-dose package, which doesn’t require thimerosal.Even when it’s present, there’s no evidence that the tiny amounts of thimerosal in vaccines can harm people. The antiseptic is still used in products such as tattoo ink and eye drops because it’s a safe way to prevent contamination.Small, safe amounts of aluminum salts are used in some vaccines. They help boost the body’s immune response to a vaccine, improving the disease protection vaccines can provide. There is no aluminum in the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.Business Insider USA
ADVERTISEMENT
Turning production into a market
Biovac’s facility has also been designed to benefit from the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, a financing mechanism launched by Gavi in June 2024.
The programme will make up to $1.2 billion available over ten years to African vaccine manufacturers that meet regulatory, production and supply milestones.
Manufacturers may receive milestone payments after products achieve key approvals, as well as additional payments for every qualifying dose supplied through Gavi and UNICEF procurement arrangements.
The largest per-dose incentives, estimated at about $0.50, are intended for priority vaccines manufactured end-to-end in Africa rather than products that undergo only final-stage packaging on the continent.
This could prove important for Biovac because international procurement contracts may give the company access to a market beyond South Africa while helping it compete with established global producers.
Biovac has supplied more than 450 million vaccine doses across Southern Africa since it was established in 2003 through a partnership with the South African government.
For more than two decades, the company has served as South Africa’s main vaccine supplier and currently produces or supplies routine childhood vaccines.
The expansion is expected to create about 340 full-time jobs, with women projected to fill 43 per cent of the positions and young people about 30 per cent.
Biovac already employs more than 300 people, around half of whom are women.
The company also plans to expand training in vaccine production, quality control and regulatory science through partnerships with universities and regional training institutions.
That skills component is important because Africa’s vaccine manufacturing gap extends beyond physical infrastructure. Manufacturers require experienced scientists, engineers, quality-assurance specialists and regulators who can operate facilities that meet World Health Organisation standards.
“By supporting Africa’s first end-to-end oral cholera vaccine manufacturing facility and the continent’s first local production of inactivated polio vaccine, we are helping transform Africa from a consumer of imported vaccines into a producer of critical health solutions,” AfDB Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation Solomon Quaynor said.
Biovac chief executive Morena Makhoana said the project could ultimately shift the company from serving an import-dependent market towards supplying vaccines produced in Africa to buyers across the continent and beyond.
The project will be an important test of whether Africa’s vaccine ambitions can move beyond new factories and political commitments to create manufacturers that obtain international approval, win large procurement contracts and remain commercially
If Biovac succeeds, the Cape Town facility could become not only atechnology transfers and guaranteed procurement can be combined to establish a competitive African pharmaceutical industry
