Accra | Ghana is due to receive the first global delivery of vaccines funded by the Covax device on Wednesday, which aims in particular to provide low-income countries with their first doses of anti-COVID vaccines, UNICEF and WHO announced.
“Ghana is to receive 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine from the manufacturer Serum Institute of India in Pune, India. These vaccines were shipped by Unicef from Mumbai to Accra and are part of the first wave of COVID vaccines to several low and middle income countries, ”according to a joint statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef.
“This delivery represents the start of what is expected to be the largest supply and distribution of vaccines in history,” the statement said.
“The Covax device plans to deliver nearly two billion doses of COVID vaccines this year. It is an unprecedented global effort to ensure access to vaccines for all citizens, ”the statement added.
Ghana, an English-speaking country in West Africa, has recorded 80,759 cases of coronavirus, including 582 deaths. But these figures are underestimated while the number of tests carried out remains low.
The press release specifies that workers on the front lines in the fight against the virus will be the first to be vaccinated.
The Covax system aims to provide COVID vaccines to 20% of the population of nearly 200 participating countries and territories this year, but most importantly it features a funding mechanism that allows 92 low- and middle-income economies to access in precious doses.
It was set up to try to prevent rich countries from monopolizing all the doses of vaccine which are still manufactured in too small quantities to meet global demand.
Founded by the WHO, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) and the Coalition for Outbreak Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), Covax has reached deals with manufacturers for two billion doses in 2021 and has the potential to ‘buy another billion.
This includes 1.1 billion doses from the Serum Institute of India (SII), which produces the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, on Monday accused some rich countries of “undermining” the Covax device by continuing to approach manufacturers directly to have access to more doses.