Naagyei 90.3 Fm Agyapa
President Akufo-Addo says his administration is keen on supporting industry players in the vaccine manufacturing sector to develop COVID-19 vaccines locally as part of efforts of his administration to vaccinate the entire adult population in country.
Ghana recorded it first COVID-19 infection in March 2020 after the novel coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.
Launching Ghana’s financing road map for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the first such road map to be produced in Africa, at the Jubilee House, President Akufo-Addo says recent scramble for vaccines by African countries to fight the COVID-19 pandemic is a clear indications that the continent and for that matter Ghana, must take the bull by the horn and produce it own vaccines.
*COVID-19 Vaccine Reality*
According to the President, the country has “so far through the Covax facility”, received some “one million, two hundred doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which has enabled us to vaccinate completely some 350,000 people and some 850,000 have received their first dose”.
“Unfortunately, we are the victims of this worldwide shortage of vaccines especially the poorer, less advantaged nations. It has provided us a very important lesson, among the many lessons that the COVID-19 has revealed to us, the need for self reliance in future in these areas” President Akufo-Addo stated.
“We cannot continue to be dependent on alms and on charity of foreigners and foreign tax payers for our basic sustainable. We need to be able to put in place the structures that will enable us in the future not to be caught with our pants down and that is that we have to learn and find the avenue to produce our own vaccines and I am particularly keen on providing the assistance for the institutions of our country to do so” President Akufo-Addo added.
*COVID-19 Statistics*
Ghana as at today, the 15th of June 2021, has recorded a total of ninety-four thousand, six hundred and ninety-nine (94,699) cases of COVID-19 out which ninety-two thousand, six hundred and ninety-six (92,696) have recovered. According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) COVID-19 online dashboard, the nation has one thousand, two hundred and thirteen (1,213) active cases in the country. A total of seven hundred and ninety (790) persons have lost their lives to COVID-19.
