On Dec. 18, 2023, COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech (22UAy.DE) announced that it aims to start production at its mRNA vaccine factory site in Rwanda in 2025, company officials said on Monday, the first foreign company mRNA vaccine manufacturing site on the continent.

The German company’s first modular factory elements, based on shipping containers, were delivered to the Kigali construction site in March and were then assembled into so-called BioNTainers. The company said in a statement it had fully funded the facility, committing a total of $150 million.