US gov­ern­ment drops $200M in­to South African man­u­fac­tur­ing op­er­a­tion for Covid-19 vac­cines

Late in the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic, a spot­light has been cast on Africa as the con­ti­nent has lagged be­hind on vac­cine roll­outs. Now, look­ing to make a dif­fer­ence, the US will drop a ma­jor in­vest­ment in South African man­u­fac­tur­er As­pen Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal to keep up with de­mand.

The US gov­ern­ment will dole out $200 mil­lion to As­pen’s Gqe­ber­ha plant to ex­pand J&J vac­cine pro­duc­tion, News24 in South Africa has re­port­ed. US Con­sul-Gen­er­al Will Stevens an­nounced the in­vest­ment in an email to East­ern Cape gov­ern­ment and East­ern Cape Pre­mier Os­car Mabuyane con­firmed it in a press brief­ing, News24 re­ports.

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