• This comes after President Akufo-Addo had bilateral engagements with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel
• Ghana is also set to commence local production of COVID-19 vaccines
Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin has disclosed Ghana is set to receive 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines as a donation made by the German Government, the Daily Graphic has reported.
The development comes following a bilateral discussion between President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel at the just-ended G20 Impact with Africa Summit held in Germany last week.
Addressing journalists at the Jubilee House on Monday August 30, 2021, said Government has already to commenced the process to dispatch cargo aircraft to bring in the vaccines to Ghana.
“I am happy to inform the people of Ghana that German Chancellor made it known to President Akufo-Addo that 1.2 million doses of were to be given to Ghana. A few hours ago, I got confirmation from the President that the number had increased to 1.2 million to 1.5 million.”
Meanwhile, the latest consignment from Germany will add to the 1.5 million doses of Moderna vaccines also made available by the United States.
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 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 avert 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 to help curb the menace.
The move is under a private-led initiative, DEK Vaccines Limited; the companies are Danadams, Ernest Chemists and Kinapharma,
The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine