Ghana’s vaccination programme has stalled for a while due to global shortages
• Three Ghanaian-owned companies have offered to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines locally
• The companies are Danadams, Ernest Chemists, and Kinapharma
• Ghana is expected to start production of the vaccines by next year
With the continuous rise of COVID-19 and the limited number of vaccinations produced worldwide, Ghana is expected to soon have its own vaccines.
As part of efforts to 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 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 its 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, a report by Graphic Online has disclosed.
With the knowledge and operational skills in the production of vaccines, they will receive support from the government to make the nation the first to produce vaccines on the continent.
Also, while the consortium has secured a plant, expected in the country by the end of the year, production will begin in 2022.
The Vaccine Production Committee Chair, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, further revealed that the short-term measure is towards vaccinating the population against the deadly COVID-19 virus.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng noted that the DEK consortium would go through all the international standardisation and packaging processes for the production of the vaccines in Ghana.
“The move is to reverse the trend in the short to medium term with the local production of vaccines for the domestic and African markets,” he said.
Here are the list of companies:
Danadams
Ernest Chemists
Kinapharma