Coronavirus: Ghana approves Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for emergency use

Ghana has through the Ministry of Health been an granted approval for registration and use of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to fight against the pandemic.

The approval was granted under an emergency use authorization, by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Saturday, February 20, 2021.

Ghana will now become the 31st country to use the Russian vaccine and the fifth nation to do so on the African continent.

CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev in a statement explained, “Ministry of Health of Ghana has thoroughly reviewed the data on safety and efficacy of Sputnik V also proven by publication in The Lancet and approved the use of the vaccine.

“This is another positive example of vaccine cooperation between Russia and partners across the world to save lives and protect the population.”

Meanwhile, the efficacy of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is 91.6 percent as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet, one of the world's oldest and most respected medical journals.

It said to be one of only three vaccines in the world with an efficacy of over 90 percent. Some global health experts say the Sputnik V vaccine provides full protection against severe cases of COVID-19.

On Friday, February 19, Ghana's Health Ministry at a press briefing reiterated plans to vaccinate some 20 million Ghanaians once the COVID-19 vaccines become available.

Additionally, Ghana is in line to receive a total of 2,412,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines under the COVAX platform.

According to the Health Minister-designate, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Ghana will be supplied with the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, licensed to Serum Institute of India (SII) – referred to as “AZ/SII.”

It is estimated that Ghana could receive approximately 965,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine vaccines by end of March 2021. It would however not be the only supply of vaccines the Government of Ghana intends to receive or procure.