MedAccess partners with Gavi to develop advance financing mechanism for African vaccine manufacturing
25 June 2025 | News
- MedAccess and Gavi announce a new partnership to explore the development of a mechanism to improve the ability of manufacturers to expand regional production.
- The partnership complements Gavi’s African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) by seeking to bring forward manufacturers’ access to financing ahead of achieving WHO pre-qualification.
- The mechanism aims to launch in early 2026, subject to structuring and required approvals, and demonstrates how innovative financing approaches aligned with AVMA have the potential to further accelerate the development and adoption of African-made vaccines.
MedAccess, a UK based social enterprise established by British International Investment, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), today announced at the Global Summit a new partnership to explore the development of a financing mechanism to address a shortage in risk tolerant financing faced by vaccine manufacturing projects on the African continent. Under the financing mechanism, MedAccess will provide guarantee-based finance to manufacturers seeking to participate in AVMA of up to US$50 million, subject to structuring and required approvals.
Early access to capital has been identified as a bottleneck in the advancement of Africa’s vaccine manufacturing pipeline. Addressing this constraint will help manufacturers reach key development targets faster to trigger milestone payments under the AVMA scheme, starting at WHO prequalification. Under the new mechanism, MedAccess proposes to share the risk with manufacturers by supporting the necessary investments to meet these targets, and without exposing Gavi and AVMA to financial risk.
The announcement follows discussions held during the 2nd Vaccine and Other Health Products Manufacturing Forum for African Union Member States in Cairo in February 2025, co-convened by Africa CDC and Gavi, where manufacturers recognised the critical role played by AVMA in stimulating technology transfers. However, many participants noted the persistent lack of early-stage financing. While AVMA’s downstream incentives are stimulating manufacturers to invest, some financiers and lenders have been reluctant to finance costs incurred prior to delivery of WHO prequalification certification for priority vaccines such as those that protect against cholera and malaria (the first approved payout milestone under AVMA).
“MedAccess is pleased to join Gavi in a partnership to create new financial tools to support vaccine manufacturing in Africa,” said MedAccess CEO Michael Anderson. “We share with Gavi and the African Union the aim of ensuring children can be protected by effective, regionally produced vaccines, with reliable supplies even in times of crisis.”
In June 2024, Gavi launched AVMA, an up to $1.2 billion financing mechanism to stimulate commercially viable vaccine manufacturing in Africa. It offers two core incentives: a lump-sum payment upon WHO prequalification for priority vaccines; and a per-dose award for vaccines delivered under UNICEF tendered contracts. AVMA is already making an impact. Within a short time, it has fostered technology transfer initiatives and promoted and promoted regulatory cooperation. New financing commitments are growing across the continent as a result.
“This new collaboration with MedAccess represents an important step toward tackling one of the barriers facing African manufacturing projects,” said Dr. Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi. “Advancing the availability of critical financing can unlock a key bottleneck and is essential to building a more self-reliant, resilient, and sustainable vaccine ecosystem for the African continent.”
This latest partnership builds on Gavi and MedAccess’ longstanging partnership and their joint commitment to supporting ambitious African vaccine manufacturing projects and strengthening the broader health ecosystem. The mechanism is expected to become operational in early 2026, subject to structuring and the necessary organisational approvals.
Notes to editors
- The African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) is a financing mechanism established to make up to US$ 1.2 billion available over ten years commencing with AVMA’s launch in June 2024 to accelerate the expansion of commercially viable vaccine manufacturing in Africa.
- AVMA offers a ‘pull financing mechanism’ by providing downstream incentives to manufacturers to help offset initial costs of development and production.
- The instrument was approved by the Gavi Board in December 2023 and launched in June 2024, following a design process conducted over nearly two years of close collaboration between Gavi, the African Union and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), with extensive consultations with partners, donors, industry, civil society and other stakeholders.
Find out more about AVMA on Gavi’s website.
