Ghana becomes first country in the world to receive vaccines through UN COVAX scheme

Ghana has become the first country in the world to receive vaccines acquired through the UN COVAX initiative, with a delivery of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca jab from the Serum Institute of India. 

The vaccines, delivered by UNICEF, arrived at Accra’s Kokoto International Airport and are part of the first wave of Covid-19 jabs that COVAX is sending to several developing countries. 

Ghana is among 92 low and middle-income countries that are receiving the doses for free through the scheme, which aims to ensure wider access to vaccines around the world. 

Another 90 countries and eight territories have agreed to pay to receive vaccines through COVAX.  

Ghana, with a population of 30 million has recorded 81,245 coronavirus cases and 584 deaths in the pandemic, according to figures from Ghana’s Health Services Tuesday.

Ghana’s vaccination campaign will begin March 2 and will be conducted in phases among prioritised groups, beginning with health workers, adults of 60 years and over, people with underlying health conditions, frontline executive, legislature, judiciary, and their related staff, said Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

‘The government of Ghana remains resolute at ensuring the welfare of all Ghanaians and is making frantic efforts to acquire adequate vaccines to cover the entire population through bilateral and multi-lateral agencies,’ he said.

The UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab hailed the historic delivery as a ‘huge step forward in ending this pandemic’. 

Britain has committed £548 million to the programme and has promised to donate the majority of any surplus vaccine stocks. 

Mr Raab said: ‘Today’s rollout of vaccines to the world’s most vulnerable countries is a huge step forward in ending this pandemic. 

‘As one of the biggest donors to Covax the UK is ensuring that more than one billion vaccine doses will be sent to 92 countries so that no one is left behind in this global fight. 

‘We will only save lives and reduce the risk of future infections if we prevent the virus spreading in the world’s developing countries.’ 

In a joint statement, the country representatives of UNICEF and WHO described the arrival of the COVAX vaccines as a ‘momentous occasion’ critical to bringing the pandemic to an end.

‘After a year of disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic … the path to recovery for the people of Ghana can finally begin,’ said the statement.

The COVAX shipment to Ghana is the start of what will be the world’s largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history, according to the statement. COVAX plans to deliver close to 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines around the world this year.

‘Today marks the historic moment for which we have been planning and working so hard. With the first shipment of doses, we can make good on the promise of the COVAX Facility to ensure people from less wealthy countries are not left behind in the race for life-saving vaccines,’ said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF’s executive director.

‘The next phase in the fight against this disease can begin – the ramping up of the largest immunization campaign in history,’ said Fore. ‘Each step on this journey brings us further along the path to recovery for the billions of children and families affected around the world.’