NantWorks Vaccine Plant Opens in South Africa
On 19 January 2022, NantWorks officially opened a vaccine plant in Cape Town. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and NantWorks Chairman and CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong cut the ribbon together with giant scissors.
The plant is designed for a production capacity of 1 billion doses by 2025. NantWorks invested nearly USD 200 million to set up the facility.
In addition to #COVID, the facility will work towards vaccines for Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS as well as cancer. The South African facility has been christened as NantSA. The plant will go a long way towards contributing to vaccine self-sufficiency and #HealthSecurity in Africa.
“Africa should no longer be last in line to access vaccines against pandemics. Africa should no longer go cap in hand to the western world, begging and begging for vaccines that they just want to drip off from the end of their tables. We will stand on our own.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
The vaccine is based on the technique developed and patented by Dr Soon-Shiong which is to boost the body’s natural immune system, in particular its T-cells. During clinical trials, the process has proven quite effective against various cancer cells. Now, the technique is being applied to coronavirus and other prevalent diseases in Africa.