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The expense of putting it all in place means that vaccines made in Africa are going to cost significantly more than those from the Indian pharmaceutical industry, which is the major supplier of routine vaccines used in Africa.
Manufacturers such as the Serum Institute of India, the worlds largest vaccine maker, have achieved huge economies of scale and have taken over much of the market share that was held by European producers.
In March 2021, when millions of Serummade doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were bound for Africa, the Indian government imposed an export ban and rerouted those vaccines to its own population.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the continents existing vaccine market is worth an estimated 1.3 billion and is expected to grow to about 2.4 billion by 2030.
The African Union has set a goal of having 60 percent of all vaccines used on the continent produced in African nations by 2040 up from 1 percent now an plan that looks wildly ambitious given the current production landscape.
The big issue, as always, is money.