Masisi’s multi-billionaire vaccine connection vows to deliver
Saturday, December 25, 2021 | 410 Views |

Partners: Soon-Shiong and Masisi met in Los Angeles in September PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO
Patrick Soon-Shiong, a South African-born multibillionaire based in the US, is vowing to move quickly beyond the agreement he signed recently with Botswana and speedily establish vaccine manufacturing in the country.
While well-meaning Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) have been signed before with little ground or progress made after that, Soon-Shiong has said he intends to have a manufacturing facility operational at the Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub’s Icon Building by 2026. The facility will produce vaccines for COVID-19, cancer as well as next generation cell-based immunotherapies.
We are told of massive spin-offs for hosting countries, which we assume was the catalyst behind putting in the bid.We are not too sure if it is a one-size fits all, where any hosting nation reaps the benefits or it’s on a case-by-case basis.There are arguments from both ends, with hosting a sure way to accelerate infrastructure development and a guaranteed cash flow during the 30-days of the tournament.There is a bump in employment creation...