The financing forms part of a broader expansion program that will increase Biovac’s annual manufacturing capacity to 500 million vaccine doses.

Once operational, the facility is expected to become Africa’s first end-to-end producer of oral cholera vaccines and South Africa’s first manufacturer of locally produced inactivated polio vaccines (IPV).

It will also be the continent’s first producer of IPV through technology transfer agreements with global partners including Sanofi, the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Biological E Limited, EuBiologics, and Bharat Biotech.

The investment addresses one of Africa’s biggest healthcare and industrial challenges.

The continent currently imports more than 99% of the vaccines it uses, despite carrying a significant share of the global burden of vaccine-preventable diseases.

The African Union has set a target of producing 60% of Africa’s vaccine needs locally by 2040, making investments in manufacturing capacity increasingly important for both public health and industrial development.

Beyond expanding pharmaceutical production, the project is expected to generate approximately 340 full-time jobs, with around 43% of positions allocated to women and 30% to young people.

Biovac, which already employs more than 300 people, half of whom are women, also plans to expand workforce development programs in vaccine manufacturing, quality assurance, and regulatory science through partnerships with universities and regional training institutions.

“This investment in Biovac is about much more than expanding vaccine production capacity,” said Solomon Quaynor, African Development Bank Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization.

“It is about building Africa’s health sovereignty, strengthening regional value chains, and creating industrial capabilities that will enable the continent to respond more effectively to future health emergencies.”

Quaynor added that supporting Africa’s first end-to-end oral cholera vaccine manufacturing facility and the continent’s first local production of inactivated polio vaccines would help transform Africa from a major importer of vaccines into a producer of essential health products.

Biovac Chief Executive Officer Morena Makhoana described the financing as a milestone for Africa’s pharmaceutical sector.

“We welcome the African Development Bank as a partner in this landmark project and are proud that an institution so central to Africa’s development sees in Biovac the same opportunity we see—a chance to fundamentally shift the continent’s relationship with its own health security,” Makhoana said.

He added: “The project will shift the narrative from majority-imported vaccines to majority-exported vaccines. This is part of changing that reality permanently. This is what Africa’s health sovereignty looks like in practice, and we are honored to be building it.”

According to Kennedy Mbekeani, the African Development Bank’s Director General for Southern Africa and Country Manager for South Africa, the project will enable one of Africa’s most experienced vaccine manufacturers to scale production of vaccines that protect children against cholera, polio, pneumonia, and meningitis.

The new manufacturing facility is expected to be completed by 2028. Production will begin with oral cholera vaccines, before expanding to include inactivated polio vaccines (IPV), pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV), and meningitis (MenX) vaccines.

The project is also designed to integrate with Gavi’s African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA), a $1.2 billion financing mechanism that provides milestone payments and production incentives to African manufacturers once they achieve World Health Organization prequalification and supply vaccines through UNICEF procurement channels.

The African Development Bank joins a broader consortium of development finance institutions supporting the project.

The financing package is led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and includes a long-term quasi-equity facility from the Human Development Accelerator (HDX), an initiative backed by the European Union and implemented by the European Investment Bank in partnership with the Gates Foundation.

Additional grant funding and technical support from global health partners will help transfer vaccine manufacturing technologies into Biovac’s production portfolio.

Founded in 2003 through a partnership between the South African government and private stakeholders, Biovac has become South Africa’s primary vaccine supplier and has delivered more than 450 million vaccine doses across Southern Africa, including COVID-19 vaccines.