The Government of Kenya has committed to build its own capacity for the production of human vaccines, as a long-term measure to ensure Kenya becomes self-sufficient in its vaccine needs and in building security of supply. The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the urgency for this initiative; hence, the Government has accelerated efforts towards this endeavour and gave a directive to venture into local production. As such Kenya Biovax Institute was incorporated whose mandate is to manufacture, package and commercialize specialized health products and technologies including vaccines, therapeutics and other biomedical products.
Manufacturing process will be approached through a phased implementation in order to navigate the challenges within the sector due to the complexity embedded in the production and manufacturing process, high technological and R&D ‘s barriers to entry, and the costs associated with vaccine production.