Ghana has received the first shipment of Covid-19 vaccines from Covax, a global scheme to procure and distribute inoculations for free, as the world races to contain the pandemic.
This was disclosed by World Health Organisation (WHO) Accra, Ghana via it’s Twitter handle on Wednesday.
Covax, launched last April to help ensure a fairer distribution of coronavirus vaccines between rich and poor nations, said it would deliver two billion doses to its members by the end of the year.
In a joint statement issued by UNICEF and WHO, it stated, “We are pleased that Ghana has become the first country to receive the Covid-19 vaccines from the Covax facility.
“The 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine licensed by the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, are part of an initial tranche of deliveries headed to several low and middle-income countries.”
According to France24, the Emirates flight carrying the vaccines touched down at Accra’s Kotoka International Airport shortly after 0740 GMT, according to images broadcast on television.
What you should know
Covax had said it aimed to deliver 2,412,000 doses of the vaccine to Ghana.
The country’s food and drug authority has authorised the use of the vaccines made in India as well as the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia.
The West African nation has recorded 80,759 Covid-19 cases and 582 deaths since the start of the pandemic. These figures are believed to fall short of the real toll as the number of tests is low.
Health workers and other frontline staff are meant to be among the first to receive doses.
“In the days ahead, frontline workers will begin to receive vaccines,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said. “The next phase in the fight against this disease can begin – the ramping up of the largest immunization campaign in history.”
