• The consignment touched down on Saturday September 4, 2021
• Ghana plans to inoculate 20 million of its adult population by the end of 2021
Ghana has on Saturday September 4, 2021 taken delivery of 1,229,620 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines donated by the United States government.
The consignment which arrived at the Kotoka International Airport will be the largest yet ever received by Government of Ghana.
A tweet confirming the arrival of the consignment posted by the Ministry of Information read, “Government today received the largest shipment of COVID-19 vaccines yet – 1.2 million doses.”
“As part of the #COVAX facility, this significant donation of Moderna vaccines from the United States will increase range of COVID-19 vaccines available and bolster efforts to protect more people,” the tweet read.
The shipment which was supposed to have arrived last week to country on August 28 had to delay as result of an accident occurring to the truck transporting the vaccines in West Virginia-USA.
It said that the damaged vaccines from the accident were however replaced and restocked.
The latest consignment was, on the other hand, received by officials of the Health Ministry after it landed in Ghana aboard an extra-large United Airlines Dreamliner aircraft.
So far, Ghana has inoculated over one million citizens with various vaccines with a target of vaccinating 20 million of the adult population by the end of 2021.
Also, with the continuous rise of COVID-19 and the limited number of vaccinations produced worldwide, Ghana is expected to soon start production of vaccines locally.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 26th COVID-19 update to the nation announced government’s plans to develop its capacity to produce COVID-19 vaccines locally in a bid to reduce the dependence on foreign supplies.
According to him, Ghana was to have a National Vaccine Production Institute to address the global shortage of coronavirus vaccines that has stalled the country’s vaccination plans for some time.
During his address, the president said government will commit to a seed fund injection of US$25 million towards the establishment of the National Vaccine Production Institute.
So far, three Ghanaian-owned pharmaceutical companies have disclosed their readiness to manufacture vaccines.
The move is under a private-led initiative, DEK Vaccines Limited; the companies are Danadams, Ernest Chemists and Kinapharma.
Ghana has received 1.2 million doses of Moderna vaccines from the USA