President Akufo-Addo has in his 26th national address on Covid-19 and its management noted that the committee he established to probe Ghana’s potential as a vaccine manufacturing hub has presented its preliminary report.
According to the President, the committee has recommended the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute to spearhead this development of a vaccine.
To help do this, the government has committed to inject seed funding of some twenty-five million United States dollars (US$25 million) this year into this whole enterprise.
The move is to help the country manufacture its vaccines due to the shortage across the globe.
He said: “The global shortage of vaccines means that we must develop our capacity to produce our own vaccines domestically, and reduce our dependence on foreign supplies. We must be self-sufficient in this regard in the future, and prepare ourselves better to deal with any such occurrences in the future. To this end, the Committee I established, under the leadership of the world-renowned Ghanaian scientist, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, to investigate Ghana’s potential as a vaccine manufacturing hub, to meet national and regional needs, has presented its preliminary report which, amongst others, recommends the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute to spearhead this development.
The President said the Institute will be charged with delivering six clear mandates:
- establishing local vaccine manufacturing plants;
- deepening Research & Development (R&D) for vaccines in Ghana;
- upgrading and strengthening the FDA;
- forging bilateral and multilateral partnerships for vaccine manufacturing in various areas, such as funding, clinical trials, technology transfer, licensing, and assignment of intellectual property rights;
- building the human resource base for vaccine discovery, development, and manufacture; and
- establishing a permanent national secretariat to coordinate vaccine development and manufacture.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com
