Covid-19 | Ghana is first nation in world to receive COVAX vaccines

Ghana has become the first country in the world to receive vaccines acquired through the United Nations-backed COVAX initiative with a delivery of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India.
The vaccines, delivered by UNICEF, arrived at Accra’s international airport yesterday and are part of the first wave of COVID-19 vaccines being sent by COVAX, an international cooperative program formed to make sure low- and middle-income countries have fair access to COVID-19 vaccines. COVAX is led by the United Nation’s World Health Organization; Gavi, a vaccine group; and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI.
Ghana is among 92 low-and middle-income countries that are receiving vaccines for free through COVAX. Another 90 countries and eight territories have agreed to pay if they choose to receive vaccines through COVAX.
The West African nation of 30 million has recorded 81,245 cases and 584 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to figures from Ghana’s Health Services yesterday.
Ghana’s vaccination campaign will begin March 2 and will be conducted in phases among prioritized groups, beginning with health workers, adults of 60 years and over, people with underlying health conditions, frontline executive, legislature, judiciary, and their related staff, Ghana’s acting Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said in a statement.
“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.
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.”

UN to rich nations: don’t undermine Covax
Wealthy nations have snapped up several billion vaccine doses while some countries in the developing world have little or none. European nations have given financial support to the U.N.-backed COVAX effort to get vaccines to the world’s most vulnerable people and are considering sharing some of their own doses — though they haven’t specified when or exactly how many.
Last week, leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers said they would accelerate global vaccine development and deployment and support “affordable and equitable access to vaccines” and treatments for COVID-19. They cited a collective $7.5 billion from the G-7 to U.N.-backed efforts.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked the G-7 countries for their “significant” pledges. But he said after talks this week with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that “even if you have the money, if you cannot use the money to buy vaccines … having the money doesn’t mean anything.”
He said some rich countries’ approaches to manufacturers to secure more vaccines are “affecting the deals with COVAX, and even the amount that was allocated for COVAX was reduced because of this.” He didn’t name those countries or give other details.
Tedros added that rich countries need to “cooperate in respecting the deals that COVAX did” and make sure before they seek more vaccines that their requests don’t undermine those deals.
“But I don’t think they’re asking that question,” he said.
Tedros, who has previously warned that the world faces a “catastrophic moral failure” if COVID-19 vaccines are not distributed fairly, said he understands the political pressures that leaders in high-income countries face.
Tedros acknowledged at a later WHO news conference on Monday that sharing doses was hard at a time of shortages and urged a significant increase in the production of vaccines.
Western governments and key vaccine makers confronting the pandemic are facing calls to ensure that vaccines reach the neediest people in poor countries such as by giving up intellectual property protections that could allow for more widespread production of generic vaccines.
Joining Tedros at the WHO news conference, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert, acknowledged such questions were “always a sensitive issue.”
Fauci cited the example of the U.S. government’s AIDS program, which helped balance manufacturer profits with developing countries’ access to drugs.
“I think at least we do have some precedent that you can make arrangements with companies that would allow them both to maintain a considerable amount of profit at the same time, that areas of the world that don’t have resources can share in a way that would be lifesaving for literally millions of people,” Fauci said. MDT/AP