Ghana misses out on EU support to produce Coronavirus vaccine

EU provides support for Coronavirus vaccine production in Africa

Nigeria, Senegal to produce vaccines

Ghana intends to establish a COVID-19 vaccine plant in the next two years - Akufo-Addo

With more countries around the world producing vaccines for the novel Coronavirus, and with support from global organisations pumping millions of dollars into these productions, Africa’s time seems to have come.

The European Union has just announced six African countries that have been successful candidates to start vaccine production on the continent.

The announcement of the sextuplet COVID-19 producers was announced at the just-ended African Union-European Union summit that was held between February 17 and 18 in the Belgian capital, Brussels.

While Ghana missed out on the selection, there are two countries each in West and North Africa whereas one each was chosen for East and Southern Africa.

The full list is as follows:

West Africa = Nigeria and Senegal

North Africa = Tunisia and Egypt

East Africa = Kenya

Southern Africa = South Africa

"Today I’m delighted to announce the first six African countries that will receive technology from the hub to produce their own mRNA vaccines: Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

"WHO will work with the companies and the government in each country to develop a roadmap for training and production, based on their needs and capacities," WHO boss, Tedros Ghebreyesus, said in his comments.

"We’re honoured to be joined today by the Presidents of all 6 countries, as well as Pres. @EmmanuelMacron, Pres. @CharlesMichel & Pres. @vonderleyen. The leadership & support of the ????????, @EU_Commission & @EUCouncil have all been essential in bringing us to this point"-@DrTedros pic.twitter.com/NfUKpQZb6Z

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 18, 2022

Meanwhile, Ghana intends to establish a COVID-19 vaccine plant in the next two years, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed.

President Akufo-Addo disclosed this at a COVID-19 forum in Germany.

The President said: “In the short term, that is in two years, our goal is to set up one domestic vaccine manufacturing plant to fill, finish and package COVID-19 and other vaccines… and to strengthen research and development for vaccine production.”

The country is also is partnering with the German biotechnology company, BioNTech SE, to fill, finish and package BioNTech mRNA vaccines across Africa, alongside Senegal and Rwanda.

The agreement was reached following a meeting in Marburg, Germany where the Presidents of all three countries witnessed the presentation of a BioNtech modular production facility solution for the production of mRNA vaccines in Africa.