With the delivery of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India, Ghana has become the first country in the world to obtain vaccines acquired through the United Nations-backed COVAX initiative.
The vaccines distributed by UNICEF arrived early on Wednesday at Accra’s international airport and are part of the first wave of COVID-19 vaccines sent by COVAX, an international cooperative initiative developed to ensure equal access to COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries. COVAX is led by the World Health Organization of the United Nations; Gavi, a vaccine group; and the Coalition for Advances for Disease Preparedness, or CEPI.
Ghana is one of 92 low- and middle-income countries that offer COVAX vaccines for free. If they want to obtain vaccines via COVAX, another 90 countries and eight territories have agreed to pay.
According to figures from Ghana’s Health Services Tuesday, the Western African nation of 30 million has recorded 81,245 cases and 584 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
In a statement, Ghana’s acting Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah announced that Ghana’s vaccination campaign will begin on March 2 and will be conducted in stages among priority groups, starting with health workers, adults 60 years of age and over, individuals with underlying health conditions, frontline executive, legislature, judiciary, and their related staff.
“The Ghanaian government remains determined to ensure the welfare of all Ghanaians and is making frantic efforts through bilateral and multi-lateral agencies to acquire adequate vaccines to cover the entire population,” he said.
The arrival of COVAX vaccines was described in a joint statement by UNICEF and WHO country representatives as a “momentous opportunity” vital to bringing the pandemic to an end.
“After a year of disturbances due to the pandemic of COVID-19… “The road to recovery for the people of Ghana can finally start,” the statement said.
According to the release, the COVAX shipment to Ghana is the launch of what will be the world’s biggest vaccine procurement and supply project in history. This year, COVAX aims to distribute nearly 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines around the world.
Today is the monumental moment we’ve been planning and working so hard for. We will make good on the pledge of the COVAX Facility with the first shipment of doses to ensure that people from less fortunate countries are not left behind in the life-saving vaccine race,” said Henrietta Fore, executive director of UNICEF.
Fore said, “The next stage in the fight against this disease can begin—the ramping up of the largest campaign of immunization in history.” “For the billions of children and families affected around the world, each step on this journey brings us further along the path to recovery.”
