General News of Sunday, 23 May 2021
Source: classfmonline.com
2021-05-23
AstraZeneca vaccine
Ghana has been selected as the manufacturing hub for COVID-19 vaccines for Africa.
The decision was one of the outcomes of a meeting President Nana Akufo-Addo had with the Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr Valdis Dombrovskis in Brussels, Belgium, during a two-day working visit on 19 and 20 May 2021.
“This, according to the Commission, follows the initiatives already taken by the government of President Akufo-Addo toward the domestic manufacturing of vaccines,” a statement signed by acting Communication Director at the Presidency, Mr Eugene Arhin indicated on 21 May 2021.
The statement further noted that “the task force teams from the EU and Ghana will meet shortly to discuss modalities toward the realisation of this initiative, which in principle could be supported by the European Investment Bank (EIB)”.
Earlier this year, President Akufo-Addo said he was determined that Ghana manufacture her own COVID-19 vaccines.
In his 24th COVID-19 address on Sunday, 28 February 2021, the President said: “I want to reiterate my determination that we should manufacture vaccines here in Ghana”.
“To this end, a committee has been established under the chairmanship of the former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, the world-renowned scientist Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, which is formulating a concrete plan of action toward vaccine development and manufacturing”.