The World Bank and a trio of western government agencies announced a financing package for production of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine in South Africa, part of an effort to scale global production and meet demand for billions of doses.

The 600 million euro (US$712M) deal, announced Wednesday, will support Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. in producing 500 million doses of the shots through 2022. Of that amount, 30 million will be produced for use in South Africa in 2021, out of a total of 250 million due by the end of the year.

The deal builds on an existing license between Aspen and J&J and includes no new intellectual property agreement, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the deal. It's aimed at building up production of vaccines outside a handful of countries as part of the overall effort to make billions of shots needed to quell the pandemic, they said.

J&J will provide the drug substance, which is the main ingredient, and Aspen -- which is based in the South African port city of Durban -- will conduct the fill-finish process, or the last stage in production, the officials said.

"Johnson & Johnson is creating a global manufacturing network that will include ten manufacturers to fulfill orders from all its customers for Covid-19 vaccines," J&J said in a statement, adding that it has worked with Aspen on the vaccine since November. "We welcome the World Bank Group's announcement that it also will support Aspen's operations, including production capacity for Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing."

Also read: South Africa signs Johnson & Johnson vaccine deal

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