Coronavirus: Government's 17.6 million procured vaccines not enough - Pharma Association

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has revealed that the government is procuring a total of 17.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the country.

Persons who are being vaccinated are expected to take two shots to ensure effective protection against the deadly virus.

The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Ghana on the back of the news has indicated that the doses being procured will not be enough for the entire population adding that logistic cost involved in shipping the vaccines to the country is high. The Association has therefore advised government to resource local manufactures in developing vaccines.

The president, however, noted that the first batch of vaccines targets 20 million Ghanaians.

“Our aim is to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of twenty million people. Through bilateral and multilateral means, we are hopeful that, by the end of June, a total of seventeen million, six hundred thousand (17.6 million) vaccine doses would have been procured for the Ghanaian people,” said Akufo-Addo on Sunday, January 31, 2020.

Speaking in an interview on Sunrise Morning Show on 3FM, monitored by GhanaWeb, the Executive Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Ghana, Lucia Addae- Ntiri, said the procured vaccine is inadequate.

“Looking at the dozes that are coming into the country what the pharmaceutical manufacturers are saying is that it is a lot of money and is going to drain the public purse, the target is to bring in 17.6 million dozes and you will need two shots so when you divide that by two you will have 8.8 million dozes, it means that out of the 30 million population you will be able to vaccinate only 8.8 million people so what happens to the rest of the population?” she quizzed.

The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association has urged government to equip local manufactures with financial assistance to enable Ghana to produce it’s our vaccines to save cost.

Lucia Addae- Ntiri had this to say, “You are supposed to think of logistical cost being able to ship it in, putting in a fridge and all that, transporting it all the way till it gets to the facilities where it has to be and there is also the cost of making sure that people will inject it so when you break it down it is a lot of cost."

If the move pulls through, Ghana will become the first African country to have developed a COVID-19 vaccine on the African continent.