Two African vaccine manufacturers and a Belgian biotechnology company have received $40m (£32m) from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help them produce new mRNA vaccines.

They include the prestigious Senegalese laboratory Institut Pasteur de Dakar and the South African-based biopharmaceutical company Biovac.

They will each receive $5m to buy mRNA vaccine research and manufacturing technology developed by the Belgian company Quantoom Biosciences.

The technology allows mRNA vaccines to be produced more efficiently and at lower costs.

The Belgian company has been awarded $20m to advance its vaccine research and manufacturing technology, which could help it to further lower the cost of producing mRNA vaccines.

The remaining $10m is expected to go to other vaccine manufacturers.

Under the funding deal, the organisations will conduct research and development of vaccines for global diseases and those that are prevalent in Africa.

Head of Institut Pasteur Dr Amadou Sall has said that the funding is “an important and necessary step towards vaccine self-reliance in the region”.