Billionaire's Covid vaccine plant opens in South Africa

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has opened a new manufacturing plant which will be the first in Africa to produce Covid-19 vaccines from start to finish.

The Nant-SA facility in Cape Town was an initiative by the US-based, South African-born biotech billionaire Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong.

It aims to start producing the vaccines within a year and to make a billion doses annually by 2025.

South Africa has two other facilities which produce vaccines from semi-finished batches.

At the opening Mr Ramaphosa said the move showed that the African continent was moving towards self reliance.

“Africa should no longer be the last in line to access vaccines during pandemics, we shouldn’t be going cap in hand begging for vaccines.”

This article originally appeared on BBC News

Photo: EPA