German Ambassador, Daniel Krull and the Deputy Minister of Health Alhaji Mahama Asei Seini in a symbolic handover of the vaccine doses.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has taken delivery of 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine donated by the German government.
The donation follows the announcement of additional Covid-19 vaccine support to Ghana by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, during the Africa Summit held in August 2021.
It is the second covid-19 consignment to be delivered to the country by the German government through the COVAX facility under the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) distribution platform.
German Ambassador to Ghana, Daniel Krull, speaking at the brief handing over ceremony at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), expressed his appreciation to the partners, including global logistics giant DHL, for the smooth and safe delivery of the vaccine to the country.
He said the donation adds to the 389,200 vaccine doses already donated to the country.
He further noted that the German government is planning to donate another 385,000 vaccine doses via the COVAX facility shortly.
“This will increase the number of Covid-19 vaccines donated to Ghana from Germany to 2.3 million doses,” he said.
Ambassador Krull further noted that complementary to the vaccine, Germany has provided equipment like a full Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for a hospital in Takoradi, 45 ventilators and 5,000 pulse oximeters for several hospitals in Ghana.
“We have supported laboratories at the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research (KCCR) and the Noguchi Memorial Institute as well as provided personal protective equipment including 470,000 face masks and nutritious meals for frontline health workers. In total, Germany’s bilateral support to Ghana amounts to a value of more than 25 million Euros,” he said.
He iterated that COVAX is helping to vaccinate people worldwide to prevent the risk of new mutations of the virus thus, Germany is donating 100 million doses primarily to countries in transition and developing countries under the facility.
Deputy Health Minister, Alhaji Mahama Asei Seini, who received the vaccine together with officials from the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF, expressed his gratitude to the German government for the support given to the country’s health sector.
“We are all aware of the difference your logistic, technical and financial support has made in the management of Covid-19 in Ghana,” he stated.
Alhaji Seini urged citizens to respond to the kind gesture by making themselves available to be vaccinated to enable the country attain its planned herd immunity against Covid-19.
German Ambassador Daniel Krull addressing the media at the KIA
The 1.5m Covid-19 Astrazeneca Vaccine doses
Officials of the partnering agencies
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri