Moderna taps Kenya as site for $500M mRNA manufacturing facility

Moderna tapped Kenya as the country for its $500 million mRNA vaccine manufacturing push on the African continent. The drugmaker said it inked a memorandum of understanding with Kenyan officials to build a state-of-the-art mRNA facility, which was first announced in October 2021. The site will focus on producing up to 500 million vaccine doses a year. The company said the plant will benefit all of Africa and in the future could be expanded to include fill-finish and packaging capabilities at the site. Additionally, Moderna said it is working toward getting the plant built and operational to fill doses of its COVID-19 vaccines in Africa by 2023 depending on demand for the shots. The exact location and square footage of the proposed manufacturing plant within Kenya weren’t disclosed.