(Reuters) – U.S. drugmaker Moderna (NASDAQ:) After agreeing with the United States to open one of its biggest manufacturing plants outside of Europe, Inc. will manufacture millions of mRNA vaccins annually in Australia.

Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister, stated that the Victoria plant would produce as many as 100 million doses of mRNA vaccine annually when it opens in 2024.

Morrison spoke to reporters in Melbourne, saying that “By moving with this new alliance, we are building…our sovereign capability to produce these vaccines here at Australia.”

Morrison didn’t provide financial details, but Australian media reports that the deal was worth approximately A$2billion ($1.43bn).

Moderna announced in October that it would invest $500 million in Africa in order to construct a facility to produce up to 500,000,000 doses of the mRNA vaccines. This includes its COVID-19 shot. Moderna said that the company had yet to decide the country or location.

Moderna developed COVID-19 vaccines Pfizer (NYSE: ) Use of mRNA – messenger ribonucleic acids – technology. It can be used also to make vaccines for seasonal flu or other respiratory diseases.

James Merlino, Acting Premier of Victoria State said that the new Australian facility would strengthen our defense against pandemics in the future and allow for local manufacturing to be done locally. This will avoid problems with global supply chains.

This announcement came as Sydney’s neighbour New South Wales reported the largest daily increase in COVID-19 case numbers since October, when a four-month lockdown was lifted. Although the majority of Tuesday’s 804 cases were reported by the Delta variant, Omicron cases have been steadily increasing.

Officials confirmed that there will be no increase in the number of new infections and encouraged people to receive their booster shots.

Australia is now inoculating nearly 90% of the population over 16 years with two doses. This has also reduced the waiting time for booster shots after Omicron cases emerged.

The pandemic has left the country with approximately 223,700 new cases and 213 deaths.

($1 = 1.4027 Australian dollars)