During a visit to local biopharmaceutical company Biovac’s manufacturing facility on March 9, Pfizer and Biovac held a showcase of their partnership, including an official opening ceremony of the recently completed Freezer Farm facility, for a delegation of global Pfizer executives, the US Consulate and South Africa’s Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel.

The partnership between Pfizer and Biovac was first established in 2015 to support the establishment of a sustainable supply of Pfizer’s pneumococcal vaccine. Over 20-million doses of vaccines are delivered a year by Biovac, with a considerable number of these said to be locally manufactured.

This journey has witnessed the full technology transfer of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

With the technology transfer completed in 2022, Biovac can locally manufacture and distribute over three-million vaccine doses of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate to the National Department of Health yearly towards the immunisation of babies in South Africa.

To date, Pfizer has invested over R855-million in Biovac in the form of infrastructure and skills development, with the economic benefit to the South African economy estimated to be over R500-million a year.

The last investment was announced at the South African Investment Conference in March 2022 and is considered a critical step forward in strengthening sustainable access to vaccines and a major boost to pandemic preparedness.

A key deliverable of the additional investment was the construction of the Freezer Farm facility, which will serve as an ultracold storage facility and adds to the institute’s capacity for vaccine storage and supply.

It is a 1 100 m², two-storey building, which houses 135 ultralow temperature freezers that allow for the storage of vaccine products up to minus 70 °C, and the storage of the locally manufactured Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

“We are pleased that this partnership between government and the private sector has brought to fruition the pledges made by Pfizer at the last South African Investment Conference.

“To produce life-saving vaccines is a positive development for South Africa as we are currently dependent on the import of human vaccines. The success of this facility can enable greater health security on the African continent,” Patel said during the visit.

“The US government is proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with South Africa in support of US companies such as Pfizer and their South Africa partner Biovac, whose investments make a real difference to health outcomes and support local upliftment – including the creation of jobs and the development of critical skills,” US Consul General Todd P Haskell commented.

“The partnership between Biovac and Pfizer has enabled us to expand our capabilities to locally produce not only the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine, but also the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, one of the largest paediatric vaccines included in South Africa’s Expanded Programme for Immunisation – the early childhood pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

“These partnerships are the building blocks towards the ultimate vision of Biovac being an end-to-end manufacturer of vaccines,” acclaimed Biovac CEO Dr Morena Makhoana.