Ghana has taken delivery of some 249,600 AstraZeneca vaccines at the Kotoka International Airport, today, August 18, 2021.
The vaccines were delivered via the COVAX facility and received by the Deputy Minister of Health, Tina Mensah. Also present were representatives from the UK High Commission, Mr. John Whittle, UNICEF and UK Health Adviser to Ghana, Uzoamaka Gilpin.
According to the Chargé d’affaires for the British High Commission to Ghana, Dr Joseph Whittle, “today’s shipment signals another step forward in Ghana’s vaccine programme”.
He further noted that some “249,600 front-line health workers, vulnerable people most at risk from Covid-19 and those in need of their vital second jab have access to vaccinations and better protection against Covid-19 variants”.
“Our shared commitment to overcome Covid-19 has only strengthened the UK-Ghana partnership, and this is reflected by the fact that Ghana is one of the first countries in the world receiving UK-donated vaccines.”
Dr Joseph Whittle
A representative from UNICEF revealed that the donation is to “support the ongoing vaccination campaign”.
Accordingly, the vaccines will be transported to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for storage and subsequent use. The arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccine also comes to complement the country’s COVID-19 vaccination drive.
UK world vaccine program
The shipment is part of a pledge made by the UK Prime Minister Boris at the G7 meeting in June. It will share 100 million jabs with the rest of the world, of which 80% will be undertaken via COVAX.
Currently, the UK has already donated around 5 million vaccine doses to COVAX, and three million of these doses will be sent to countries across Africa.
Other countries which have received the vaccines include Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia.
The UK has been part of the forerunners in the global response to Covid-19 by investing £90 million to support the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Due to this, more than half a billion doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have been delivered at a non-profit price globally, with two-thirds going to lower and middle-income countries.
The scheme has delivered more than 152 million vaccine doses to over 137 countries and territories, including 83 lower-middle-income countries. COVAX aims to deliver 1.8 billion vaccines to lower-income countries around the world by early 2022.
AstraZeneca vaccination in Ghana
AstraZeneca was the first vaccine to arrive in Ghana onFebruary 24, 2021, when the country intensified its efforts to halt the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Out of the about 800,000 people to have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca, nearly half of the number is yet to get the second jab.
Presently, Ghana is vaccinating a section of the population with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which arrived in the country last month. The vaccines were deployed under the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Trust initiative.
Following this, a total of 177, 600 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are currently being administered to unvaccinated persons in COVID-19 hotspots in the Greater Accra region and the Ashanti Region.
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