Ghana has taken delivery of another 532,320 doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine from the governments of Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Germany.
The joint donation by the four governments is to support Ghana’s vaccination target to reach 20 million adult citizens by the end of 2021.
The donation was done through the COVAX Facility, where Germany donated 386,000 doses with the governments of Denmark, Iceland, and Norway donating the rest.
Receiving the AstraZeneca doses on behalf of Ghana, Chairman for the Health commodities group for Covid-19, Matthew Yaw Kyeremeh, said the vaccines will be immediately distributed for onward inoculation of Ghanaian citizens.
He added that for now, the country has more of the AstraZeneca vaccines to complete with those who have received a single dose and are waiting for their second doses.
According to him, that will be done first before the other vaccines with long shelf lives are used for the exercise.
“We have received some AstraZeneca vaccines but the AstraZeneca vaccines, unfortunately, have got a shorter shelf life, so we are going to make sure we use them before we start using the other ones with longer shelf lives.”
“So immediately, these ones are going to be used. Some Ghanaians have already taken their first dose and are waiting for their second doses, but we now have enough to cover all those persons and even to have some more.”
Deputy Representative for UNICEF, Fiachra McAsey said UNICEF remains committed to the fair and equitable distribution of vaccines to all countries.
According to him, UNICEF will work with the Ghanaian health authorities to ensure that every person eligible to be vaccinated is vaccinated.
“As COVAX partner, UNICEF remains committed to the fair and equitable distribution of vaccines to ensure that no one is left behind and we are working diligently together with our partners here especially the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to ensure that every eligible citizen is reached.”
Over 532,000 additional doses of AstraZeneca #COVID19 vaccines have arrived in #Ghana. pic.twitter.com/OqdLQl5pvh
— Ministry of Information (@moigovgh) October 7, 2021
The country recently received 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the German government.
The vaccines were received by a Deputy Minister for Health, Mahama Asei Seini.
The donation forms part of the German government’s quest to support Ghana’s fight against COVID-19.
