Ghana is in the process of creating National Vaccine Institute
Prez Akufo-Addo is Forbes African of the Year
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that even though Ghana’s target of vaccinating 20 million people by the end of 2021 has not been achieved, steps are in place to ensure that the target is reached by the end of April 2022.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Forbes Africa, after being named “African of the Year”, the president said vaccinating a greater part of Ghana’s population is key in the fight against the pandemic and measures are in place to ensure this.
“Access to vaccines has been growing. I think by the end of this year, projections are that we would have received some 15 million vaccines. That 20 million target we may not reach this year but we believe by the end of the first quarter next year, we would have attained,” he said.
He further outlined the importance of taking the vaccination exercise seriously, adding that “the significance of it is that, in a population of 30 million people, if we are able to vaccinate 20 million, it means we are vaccinating the entire adult population of Ghana and that in itself gives us all the immunity we need so as a target, it is a really important target”.
The president however reiterated government’s plans to create a vaccine institute to save Ghana from its over dependence on foreign countries for vaccine supplies.
“We have been dependent on other people to provide us with vaccines and that is an intolerable position.
“The pandemic is affecting your population and you are not in a position to assist your population because you are having to beg other people to give you what they have, is not a situation that we can live with. We should have learned our lessons from the Ebola crisis but out of this crisis, we have to recognize the need to have our own domestic capabilities to produce our own vaccine,” he added.
Meanwhile, the government has secured some funds to aid the creation of the national vaccine institute to enable Ghanaians to locally produce their own vaccines.
“That is one of the important decisions we have taken. We are in the process of creating a national vaccine institute led by very capable and world-class Ghanaian scientists and we are hoping that by next year it will be up and running so we can find strong capabilities to find vaccines for our people,” he added.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghana’s President, was named Forbes African of the year in recognition of his contribution to repositioning the country in the global marketplace as one reliant on its own resources and strengths.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo