Moderna announced that with the assistance of the U.S. government, it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Kenya to establish Kenya as the location for the company's mRNA manufacturing facility.

Moderna is building this state-of-the-art mRNA facility in Africa with the goal of producing up to 500 million doses of vaccines each year. The company anticipates investing up to US $ 500 million in this new facility which will focus on drug substance manufacturing on the continent of Africa for the continent of Africa, and could also be expanded to include fill/finish and packaging capabilities at the site. In parallel, Moderna is also working on plans to allow it to fill doses of its Covid-19 vaccine in Africa as early as 2023, subject to demand.

"Battling the Covid-19 pandemic over the last two years has provided a reminder of the work that must be done to ensure global health equity. Moderna is committed to being a part of the solution and today, we announce another step in this journey - an investment in the Republic of Kenya to build a drug substance mRNA manufacturing facility capable of supplying up to 500 million doses for the African continent each year," said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. "With our mRNA global public health vaccine program, including our vaccine programs against HIV and Nipah, and with this partnership with the Republic of Kenya, the African Union and the U.S. government, we believe that this step will become one of many on a journey to ensure sustainable access to transformative mRNA innovation on the African continent and positively impact public health."

"We are pleased to partner with Moderna in the establishment of this mRNA manufacturing facility to help prepare the country and our sister states on the continent through the African Union to respond to future health crises and stave off the next pandemic," said His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya.