Government receives 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Germany

Deputy Health Minister Mahama Asei Seini received 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from the German government on Sunday in support of the fight against Covid-19 in Ghana.

The German government’s donation follows Chancellor Angela Merkel’s announcement to President Akufo-Addo at the Compact with Africa summit in Berlin on August 27, 2021.

Germany has so far provided Ghana in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with 389,200 doses of vaccine, which will be deployed throughout Ghana from Friday, September 24, 2021.

In addition to delivering 1.5 million doses on Sunday, Germany plans to deliver 385,000 additional doses to Ghana through the COVAX facility, bringing the number of COVID-19 vaccines for Ghana from Germany at 2.3 million doses.

For the delivery of the 27 pallets of vaccine from Cologne, Germany, to Accra, the governments of Germany and Ghana have teamed up with global logistics giant DHL, which will provide a cargo plane to ensure safe and timely delivery. DHL is headquartered in the former capital of Germany in Bonn and offers specialist services for medical supplies.

Currently, the German Outbreak Preparedness Team (SEEG) is providing theoretical and practical training on next-generation virus sequencing as well as bioinformatics analyzes at the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research (KCCR) to enable Ghanaian authorities to identify new potential coronavirus variants of concern.

In addition to vaccines, Germany provided equipment such as a complete intensive care unit for a hospital in Takoradi, 45 ventilators and 5,000 pulse oximeters for several hospitals in Ghana, support for the laboratories of the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research (KCCR) and the Noguchi Memorial. Institute, as well as personal protective equipment, including 470,000 face masks and nutritious meals for frontline healthcare workers, among others. In total, Germany’s bilateral support to Ghana amounts to more than € 25 million.

Bilateral aid to Ghana complements Germany’s contribution to the ACT-A distribution platform, of which Germany is the second-largest donor, providing € 2.2 billion. COVAX is part of ACT-A.

In addition to its financial contribution to COVAX, Germany will transmit 100 million doses, mainly to countries in transition and developing countries, 90% of which will be distributed through the COVAX vaccine platform.

COVAX helps vaccinate people around the world – the only way to prevent the risk of new, constant mutations in the virus. No one is safe until everyone is safe.