Additional 530,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arrive in Ghana

By Enoch Fiifi Forson

ACCRA, Ghana (AA) - Ghana received additional 530,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the government announced on Thursday.

Ghana received the vaccine doses from Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Germany via the COVAX facility, according to the Health Ministry.

“The donation is to support the nationwide vaccination program. We remain committed to supporting efforts to end COVID-19,” the Health Ministry added.

So Ghana has taken delivery of over 2 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in less than two weeks, after receiving 1.5 million doses from Germany on Sept. 26.

AstraZeneca vaccine was the first to be administered in the country that obtained 600,000 doses of the vaccine, becoming the first African economy to receive them from the COVAX facility in February. Since then, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines have also been administered.

When Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo held bilateral talks with US Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House in September, the US said it will donate 1.3 million Pfizer vaccines to the West African country.

According to the statistics website statista.com, Ghana has administered over 1.65 million doses of coronavirus vaccines as of Oct. 3, while the number of cases in the country reached 127,482 with 1,157 virus-related deaths.

It remains unlikely that the Ghana government can achieve its target of vaccinating 20 million people out of over 31 million population by the end of the year.