Ask vaccine guru Dr. Marylyn Addo to help fight coronavirus – Kwaku Azar to govt

Renowned professor and public intellectual Stephen Kwaku Asare, known widely as Kwaku Azar, has proposed to the government to go after acclaimed German-Ghanaian virologist Dr Marylyn Addo, so that she leads Ghana’s search for a vaccine for the coronavirus.

Prof Azar is of the view that the eagerness and commitment with which Kevin-Prince Boateng, a footballer of German-Ghanaian parentage, was brought to play for Ghana’s senior national football team, the Black Stars, must be applied to bring to the country, the celebrated vaccine developer, who is currently based in Germany.

“It was right for us to go after Kevin Prince Boateng as part of the Black Stars’ history-making World Cup run.

"We must use that same approach to go after the renowned vaccine guru, Prof. Dr. Marylyn Addo, to come and lead our vaccine search efforts or to lead the health ministry."

"But this is Ghana. Our approach to recruiting Ghanaians everywhere depends on whether it is soccer or public office,” he pointed out on social media.

Ghanaian authorities began processes to get Kevin Prince Boateng to play for the country in 2006. But he only got to play for the country in 2010 when FIFA relaxed rules barring players from switching their nationalities. He played in the 2010 World Cup for Ghana, having received his Ghanaian passport promptly in May 2010.

Dr. Marylyn Addo

Dr Marylyn Addo heads the Infectious Diseases unit at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany.

Professor Marylyn Martina Addo is leading other scientists in finding a vaccine for the deadly novel Coronavirus disease.