Rwanda in talks to produce COVID-19 vaccines

Rwanda is working with international partners to bring in the latest technology to help the country produce Covid-19 vaccines of the mRNA type – such as Pfizer and Moderna.

These are a new type of vaccine and only a small number of people understand how to make them.

They use a fragment of the virus’s genetic material – or messenger RNA – to teach the body how to fight Covid-19 and build immunity.

Rwanda’s Health Minister Tharcisse Mpunga said discussions were at an advanced stage to open a vaccine plant to aid the vaccination campaign in Africa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says African countries are running out of supplies of Covid-19 vaccines, and there is concern over the availability of further doses.

So far, seven countries have already exhausted the vaccines they received from the UN-backed Covax scheme.

Africa has only administered 2% of all the vaccine doses administered globally so far