27 Mar 2022

The establishment of a vaccine manufacturing plant in Botswana is expected to change the face of the health sector in terms of improving drug availability in the country and the African region. 

Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Edwin Dikoloti said this ahead of the ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the ground-breaking of the establishment of NantBotswana. 

“We are happy to be unveiling a project that is an answer to our health concerns. The project will be using advanced technology and research in the manufacture of vaccines,” he said. 

The setting up of NantBotswana would also Botswana’s drug discovery and manufacture. 

The minister said it was pleasing that a larger part of the funding that had always been allocated for purchasing vaccines would now benefit locally based companies and also create employment. 

He said for a long time, Africa had consumed and not produced anything to export to other nations, something which had been of concern to World Health Organisations (WHO) and the Africa Centre for Disease Control. 

Dr Dikoloti said it was apparent that NantWorks was a world leader in the expertise of manufacturing vaccines and drugs for various human diseases. 

The initial stage of the project, he said, would focus on manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines. 

He said the company had expertise in dealing with cancer and would in the near future engage in dealing with the disease. 

Additionally, Dr Dikoloti said one of the future projects that would be carried out by NantBotswana would be drug compounding which would help in improving the provision of various drugs for treatment, not prevention. 

Dr Dikoloti said drug manufacturing had a lot to offer through its value chain and expressed optimism that the project would go a long way in benefiting Batswana. Ends