EIB, Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Sign €75m Deal For Vaccine Manufacturing Facility

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Institut Pasteur de Dakar have announced the conclusion of a €75 million financing agreement to support the construction of the new MADIBA vaccine manufacturing facility.

The Institut Pasteur de Dakar’s new facility is being built in Diamniadio, a town and special economic zone strategically located between Senegal’s capital Dakar, the international airport and the “Port du Futur” of Ndayane.

The state-of-the-art site includes a manufacturing platform for the production of vaccines against epidemics, a high-volume production site for yellow fever vaccines and a training site for the production of next-generation vaccines.

This large-scale financing will help to significantly increase Africa’s medical and vaccine production capacity to fight COVID-19 and other endemic diseases, thus reducing its dependence on imports, which currently cover 99 percent of its vaccine needs.

Once the new manufacturing facility is complete and operating at full capacity, it is also expected to support equal access to vaccines, producing up to 300 million doses a year against COVID-19 and other endemic diseases.

The new financing reflects the EIB’s strong involvement in Africa, particularly through its new EIB Global initiative bringing together its activities outside the European Union (EU), in close cooperation with the other EU institutions as part of Team Europe.

Aware of the challenge that manufacturing facility presents, the EIB and the EU already donated €5 million in 2021 alongside other partners for technical feasibility studies and project preparation for the Institut de Dakar’s MADIBA project (Manufacturing in Africa for Disease Immunisation and Building Autonomy) to accelerate the construction of this new vaccine production site.

The agreement was signed in the presence of EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle, Aliou Ndiaye, General Secretary of the Senegalese Ministry of Economy, Planning and Cooperation, Dr Amadou Alpha Sall, Director of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar, and Irène Mingasson, Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Senegal.

Director of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar. Dr Amadou Alpha Sall said having different levels of protection in different parts of the world will not help to end the COVID-19 pandemic or control other vaccine-preventable diseases, adding that it is essential to create decentralised vaccine manufacturing capacity to address this imbalance and ultimately build a safer and healthier world.

“We must build a thriving ecosystem for vaccine production in Africa to achieve the level of resilience we all need. Expanding capacity in all vaccine-related sectors will create major employment opportunities for thousands of young African”, he said.

EIB Vice-President, Ambroise Fayolle said he is delighted that the EIB is a key financer of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar. This new vaccine manufacturing facility, according to him, is a vital project for public health in Senegal and across the African continent, contributing to greater autonomy in the production and distribution of essential vaccines.

“With EIB Global, our goal is to work with our partners as closely as possible to meet the needs of Senegalese people, supporting growth and jobs, and improving their day-to-day lives in key areas such as health and access to healthcare. This project is also a concrete example of the EU’s joint approach in Africa through Team Europe”.

Similarly, the Head of the EU Delegation to Senegal, Irène Mingasson noted that the MADIBA project demonstrates the EU’s and Team Europe’s commitment to upholding the fundamental principle of solidarity that links them to all countries across Africa.

“Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, we have maintained that no one is safe until everyone is safe. We must therefore work together to ensure equal access to vaccines around the world”, she stressed.

Notably, this financing is part of a major European investment programme with Team Europe and its partners. The EIB, through its dedicated development arm (EIB Global), is a key player in supporting the manufacture of and access to vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Africa.

The EIB has become one of Senegal’s most important development partners, with a total investment of almost €900 million since 1966 to improve living conditions in cities and rural communities, boost the economy, and help businesses, small project promoters and society adapt to climate change.