The National Vaccine Institute has formed a 13-member Governing Board, which has been tasked with making Ghana a vaccine manufacturing powerhouse for the entire African continent, not just West Africa.
Dr. Anarfi Asamoa-Baah serves as the board’s chairman, and other members include Professor William Ampofo, Drs. Baffuor Awuah, Mustapha Tawiah Kumah, Daniel Gyingiri Achel, Ms. Frederica Sala Illiasu, Dr. Delese Darko, Professor Alex Dodoo, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye,Kofi Nsiah-Poku, Prof. Kofi Opoku Nti, Prof. Gordon A. Awandare, and Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson.
The inauguration of the new board came with the launching of a new structure that was considered as a significant advancement in the nation’s efforts to manufacture its own vaccines.
President Akufo-Addo emphasized his government’s resolve to ensure that Ghana is never again a victim or a pawn of the global vaccination order in a speech given during the commissioning on May 10, 2023.
He continued by saying that the vaccine nationalism displayed by the industrialized world during the COVID-19 epidemic served as a wake-up call for Ghana to take control of its own destiny.
In order to address this issue, President Akufo-Addo established the Vaccine Manufacturing Committee in February 2021. As a result of a parliamentary legislation, this organization is now known as the National Vaccine Institute. mRNA COVID-19, malaria, and tuberculosis vaccines can now be filled, finished, and packaged by domestic pharmaceutical businesses thanks to a $25 million grant awarded to the Institute to manage and support this effort.
President Akufo-Addo reaffirmed the commitment of his administration to preserving Ghana’s independence from the global vaccination order and downplayed the effect of vaccine nationalism on the nation’s will to take control of its own future.
Source: Richard Obeng Bediako II Metrotvonline.com ll Ghana
