South Africa's Biovac to start making Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in early 2022 - exec

South Africa's Biovac Institute will start making Pfizer-BioNTech's, COVID-19 vaccine early next year after receiving the drug substance from Europe, a Pfizer executive said on Monday. Biovac's 'fill and finish' deal with Pfizer, announced in July, will make it one of the few companies processing COVID-19 shots in Africa, where many countries have struggled to access sufficient doses during the pandemic. 'We expect that the Cape Town facility will be incorporated into our supply chain by the end of this year,' Patrick van der Loo, Pfizer regional president for Africa and the Middle East, told a conference in Kigali on vaccine manufacturing in Africa.