PRESIDENT Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has initiated the construction of a vaccine plant by DEK Vaccines Ltd, a private sector-led consortium of Ghanaian pharmaceutical companies, in a bid to make the country self-sufficient in vaccine production. At the sod-cutting ceremony on April 18, 2023, in Medea, the President announced that the establishment of a vaccine manufacturing plant would help Ghana realise its dream of producing vaccines locally.
Akufo-Addo recounted that the idea of manufacturing vaccines in Ghana started on February 28, 2021, during his ‘Fellow Ghanaians’ series of addresses to the nation. He explained that the vaccine nationalism exhibited by developed countries during the Covid-19 vaccine rollout underscored the need for Ghana to be self-reliant in vaccine production. Thus, he established a committee to develop a concrete plan for vaccine development and manufacturing, which led to the establishment of the National Vaccine Institute in July 2021 with seed funding of $25 million from the European Investment Bank.
‘The vaccine nationalism that was played out by the developed world, with the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, meant that we had to take urgent, critical steps towards making sure that never again would we be victims or pawns of the international vaccine order. It was imperative that we took our destiny into our own hands,’ he said.
The President noted that the National Vaccine Institute would work with other domestic pharmaceutical companies, such as Atlantic LifeSciences, to enhance Ghana’s capacity to produce vaccines and bring the country closer to its goal of becoming a vaccine manufacturing hub in sub-Saharan Africa. DEKs Vaccines Ltd would be responsible for filling, finishing, and packaging Covid-19, malaria, and tuberculosis vaccines for the short-term, while the medium-term target is to establish more domestic vaccine manufacturing plants to meet WHO GMP standards. The long-term target is to develop a candidate vaccine within ten years using innovative technologies.
President Akufo-Addo expressed his appreciation to the German Government, GIZ, the Consortium of International Partners, the European Investment Bank, and the European Union for their support. He also thanked the Chairperson and Members of the Presidential Committee on Vaccine Manufacturing for their ‘excellent work in bringing the country to this point.’
