Ghana’s goal, according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is to establish a COVID-19 vaccine plant within two years.
This manufacturing facility will handle the filling and finishing of the vaccine.
Nana Akufo-Addo, speaking at the COVID-19 forum in Germany, stated that Ghana is prepared to assist in the fight against the pandemic on the African continent.
“Our short-term goal is to establish one domestic vaccine manufacturing plant to fill, finish, and package COVID-19 and other vaccines in two years… He also stated that “research and development for vaccine production should be strengthened.”
This target comes as Ghana, alongside Rwanda and Senegal, are partnering with German biotechnology company, BioNTech SE, to fill, finish, and package BioNTech mRNA vaccines in Africa.
This is expected to be the first step in the chain of domestic vaccine production, which will improve vaccine supply in Africa.
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The agreement came after a meeting in Marburg, Germany, on Wednesday, where President Akufo-Addo, together with Presidents Macky Sall and Paul Kagame of the Republics of Senegal and Rwanda respectively, witnessed the presentation of a BioNtech modular production facility solution for the production of mRNA vaccines in Africa.
The government plans to invest $25 million as seed money towards the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute to spearhead the country’s efforts at producing vaccines locally.
The Institute will also work towards Research & Development for vaccines in Ghana and building the human resource base for vaccine discovery, development, and manufacture.
The establishment of the institute forms part of recommendations by a committee established by the government to formulate a concrete plan for vaccine development and manufacturing in Ghana.
The Presidential Vaccine Manufacturing Committee has already indicated that Ghana would need $200 million to fully manufacture COVID-19 vaccines locally.
The project is envisioned to be a private-public partnership arrangement.
Africa is almost totally dependent on vaccine producers outside the continent, as it produces just 1 percent of the vaccines it administers.
