By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni invited Deputy President William Ruto as his chief guest on Tuesday during the official laying of the foundation stone for a vaccine manufacturing facility.
The event took place in Matuga, Wakiso district where the construction of the Biological Drugs and mRNA vaccine which is under the Dei Group manufacturing facility is located at.
They toured the facility, along with the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Monica Musenero, who assured full support of the Uganda and Kenya governments to expedite the completion of DEI Biopharma.
DEI Biopharma intends to produce an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 within six months. In addition, it plans to create a consortium of African countries through WHO affiliation to become the leader in the vaccine supply for COVID-19 and many more such vaccines in the future.
Ruto said that the commitment to buying locally manufactured vaccine doses at a large scale will ease African countries’ import bills, enhance their export earnings and sustainably boost the ordinary people’s health status.
“We are keen to building partnerships with other African countries to move the continent away from only packaging and labelling of drugs to the restructuring of its market to focus more on upstream production,” Ruto said.
DEI Biopharma manufactures biotechnology products, including mRNA vaccines, biosimilars, gene, and cell therapy alongside traditional pharmaceutical products in a bid to make Uganda self-sufficient in the healthcare field.
Established on a 100-acre campus containing multiple manufacturing facilities, DEI Biopharma is the largest in Africa and the only company producing biological products including mRNA vaccines.
Last month, Museveni said that his government remains committed to funding research and innovations by local scientists especially those in the universities.
“We have demonstrated this by earmarking USh30 billion every financial year to the Makerere University Research and Innovations Fund,” Museveni said during the world health summit regional meeting in June.
He had also lauded Makerere University for mobilising human and other resources to start developing a Ugandan Covid-19 vaccine.
However, South Africa, Senegal, and Rwanda are the countries in Africa working with the European Union and other partners to help create a regional vaccine manufacturing hub.
