S.Africa's Aspen aims to sharply increase COVID-19 vaccine capacity

A worker at the South African pharmaceutical major Aspen Pharmacare looks on at its Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine facility in Gqeberha, South Africa, October 25, 2021. Picture taken through glass. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

GQEBERHA, South Africa (Reuters) -South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare is aiming to ramp up its COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity to 1.3 billion doses a year by February 2024, up from a current annual output of around 250 million doses, the company's CEO told Reuters on Monday.

Aspen is doing the final stages of manufacturing for Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine under a so-called "fill and finish" deal, but CEO Stephen Saad said in an interview that the companies were close to announcing a broader deal for Aspen to produce J&J's COVID-19 shot under licence.