Plant to help address Ghana's vaccine challenges

Ghana is set to realize its dream of becoming self-sufficient in the production and manufacture of vaccines, thanks to a manufacturing plant currently under construction.

DEKs Vaccines Ltd, a private sector-led consortium of Ghanaian pharmaceutical companies, is expected to produce 600 million vaccines annually.

In a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, President Nana Akufo-Addo said in two years, the plant will be in a position to fill, finish and package vaccines against COVID-19 and medications to combat diseases like malaria and tuberculosis.

"In five years, the target is to continue the establishment of more domestic vaccine manufacturing plants in the country to manufacture vaccines to meet the World Health Organization Good Manufacturing Practices standards," he said.

Akufo-Addo said the long-term target is to produce a candidate vaccine in 10 years using innovative technologies.

The vision to manufacture vaccines in Ghana, he added, started on February 28, 2021, in what has come to be known as the "Fellow Ghanaian" series of addresses to the nation.

"The vaccine nationalism that played out in the developed world with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines meant we had to take urgent, critical steps toward making sure never again would we be victims or pawns of the international vaccine order. It was imperative that we took our destiny into our own hands," the president said.

The National Vaccine Institute will coordinate and facilitate the capacity of DEKS Vaccines Ltd and other domestic pharmaceutical companies to fill, finish and package mRNA COVID-19 and other vaccines.

Akufo-Addo said Ghana, along with Rwanda and Senegal, are looking forward to becoming vaccine manufacturing hubs in Sub-Saharan Africa.

"We want to achieve self-sufficiency in vaccine production to meet future national, regional and continental needs for health security," he said.