Prefabricated modules to build anticovid vaccine production plants in Africa. The initiative was launched by the German company BionTech, which together with Pfizer created the first m-Rna anti-covid vaccine. The first prefabricated plants will be sent to Rwanda, Senegal and possibly also South Africa, the company announced today, presenting the project today at its plant in Marburg, in the German land of Hesse. The event was attended by the presidents of Rwanda, Ghana and Senegal – Paul Kagame, Nana Akufo-Addo and Macky Sall – as well as the director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the German Minister for Development, Svenja Schulze. The prefabricated modules, called BioNtainer, are sterile rooms equipped with the equipment to make vaccines, explains a company release. “Taken together, two modules cover an area of 800 square meters and offer an estimated initial capacity to produce up to 50 million doses of Pfizer BioNTech’s covid-19 vaccine each year.” The plants could develop vaccines for other diseases in the future. The first BioNTainers will arrive in Africa in the second half of 2022. Production may begin 12 months after the delivery of the plants. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, hailed the initiative as “a pioneer project in the global fight against pandemic. For the president of Ghana “today is a momentous day for Mother Africa. Another step towards self-sufficiency has been taken. “The project was announced on the eve of the European Union-African Union summit which opens tomorrow in Brussels and sees the fight against covid among the topics on the agenda.