President of the republic of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo has hinted that the country must develop its capacity to develop its own vaccines domestically due to global shortage.
He says if the country produces its own vaccines, it will reduce the country’s dependence on foreign supplies.
”The global shortage of vaccines means that we must develop our capacity to produce our own vaccines domestically, and reduce our dependence on foreign supplies. We must be self-sufficient in this regard in the future, and prepare ourselves better to deal with any such occurrences in the future”, the President stated.
“To this end, the Committee I established, under the leadership of the world-renowned Ghanaian scientist, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, to investigate Ghana’s potential as a vaccine manufacturing hub, to meet national and regional needs, has presented its preliminary report which, amongst others, recommends the establishment of a National. Vaccine Institute to spearhead this development. Government has committed to inject seed funding of some twenty-five million United States dollars (US$25 million) this year into this whole enterprise.
The President also said that most Ghanaians have left their guards down owing from the data released by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) on the covid-19.
He added that strict conformity with covid-19 protocols will be enforced.