By Yvonne Atilego
Germany, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, have presented 532,320 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Ghana.
The doses of AstraZeneca’s Covi shield vaccine from the four governments arrived in Accra on October 6, 2021, via the COVAX facility.
Ambassador of Denmark, Tom Norring; Ambassador of Germany, Daniel Krull; Deputy Head of Mission of the Norwegian Ambassador Kyrr Holm, and the UNICEF Deputy Representative, Fiachra McAsey together with Officials of the Ministry of Health received the vaccines at the Kotoka International Airport, in Accra.
Mr McAsey said UNICEF as a COVAX partner remains committed to fair and equitable distribution of vaccines to ensure that no one is left behind. According to him, UNICEF is working with partners to ensure that every eligible person is covered.
“UNICEF remains to support with technical assistance and materials support to ensure that we maintain vaccine readiness to make sure the health system remains strong, engage with communities to make sure education around vaccines is high.’’
With this donation, the governments will jointly be supporting Ghana’s vaccination effort to reach the targeted 20 million adult citizens by the end of this year. Germany alone has so far provided Ghana with approximately 1.9 million doses of vaccines, which are currently being rolled out across the country.
Out of the number, Denmark has also provided about 78,000 of the vaccines while Norway donated 65,000 with Iceland giving 1,920. All 4 governments pledged their commitment to Ghana’s vaccination drive. Mathew Kyeremeh who is Head of the Health Commodities Group for Covid 19, received the vaccines on behalf of Ghana’s Minister of Health.
“Nothing is going to stop Ghana from going ahead to make sure that everybody is vaccinated,’’ he stated.
“Ghana will make good and judicious use of these vaccines so all Ghanaians will be protected against the pandemic,’’ according to Mr. Kyeremeh.