Germany donates 1.5m COVID-19 vaccines to Ghana

• Posted on August 31, 2021August 31, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

-Govt dispatches plane to bring it-Eugene Arhin

Ghana is expected to take delivery of some 1.5 million doses of the 70 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to be given to African countries by Germany this year.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, made a promise to more than double the doses of COVID-19 vaccines to African countries at the just ended summit with African leaders on the G20’s Compact with Africa initiative in Berlin.
 

African leaders at the summit had argued strongly on the need for Africa to be given the opportunity and the right to produce vaccines to enable it stem up its vaccination efforts on the continent.
Angela Merkel expressed optimism of a steady transfer of the technology to allow production of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa.
Briefing the media covering the Presidency at the Jubilee House, Communications Director at the Presidency, Eugine Arhin said President Nana Akufo-Addo held a bilateral meeting with the German Chancellor where it was agreed that a total of 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines would be made available to Ghana. 
According to him, “the president is dispatching a plane immediately to Germany to take delivery of the 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines” 
He announced that the American government has also agreed to supply Ghana with some 1.5 million doses of the Moderna Vaccines.  
“In all, we should be hitting around 5 million vaccine doses,” he added.
He said these initiatives form part of government’s agenda towards fighting the COVID -19 pandemic and realizing the dream of ensuring that at least some 20 million Ghanaians are vaccinated by the end of the year as promised by the President.
So far, Ghana has vaccinated some 1,271,393 with AstraZeneca out of which 865,422 have received only the first dose while 405, 971 have received first and second doses.
More than half of the backlog of people awaiting their second shot of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will today start taking the jab.
The nationwide exercise is expected to be concluded on Saturday, September 4, 2021.
Health authorities are targeting people who took the jab between March 10 and 29 this year because the last consignment of AstraZeneca that was deployed was targeted at those who took their first jab from March 1 to March 9 this year.  
Another 177,700 Ghanaians also have been vaccinated with the single-dose Johnson &Johnson vaccines.
The vaccines that Ghana received under the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust initiative will target persons aged 18 years and above, excluding pregnant women, at selected health points, said the authorities.
As of August 18, 2021, 1,765,050 doses of vaccines had come into the country, out of which 1,566,450 were the AstraZeneca double-schedule vaccine. 

In March, 366,850 doses of the Covishield came in. 

In March 2021, the country received Russia’s Sputnik V, the last but one doses of vaccines before the latest two arrivals of Johnson & Johnson and 249,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last Wednesday. 

The President at the G20 Compact for Africa, engaged in the promotion of private investment in Africa, including in infrastructure, where he made clear that the Compact initiative had had a tremendous impact on Ghana’s ambition to become an investment hub in Africa, with auto and industry giants pitching camp in the country.
Launched in 2017 under Germany’s G20 presidency, the Compact promotes private investment in Africa, aiming to ease the poverty which, along with political instability and violence, has encouraged large numbers of Africans to head for Europe.

By Daniel NONOR, Jubilee House