In an address at the 72nd Annual New Year School and Conference in Accra, the President said the committee set up to recommend the appropriate decision on the deployment of a safe Covid-19 vaccine in Ghana has concluded its work enabling the government to begin discussions with vaccine manufacturing companies.

"Through the advances of science we now have vaccines that are already being administered in some countries that could help control and eventually end the pandemic. The Committee formed by government to recommend the appropriate decision on COVID-19 vaccines has completed its work, enabling government to begin discussions with vaccine-manufacturing companies with the goal of ordering the suitable doses of the vaccine for use in Ghana. Details of this will be announced very soon" 

He said the goal of the discussion was to order the most suitable vaccine for Ghana.

Ghana's FDA has not yet approved any COVID-19 vaccine for use in the country and last week issued a Public Health Alert against the patronage of any vaccine.

However, the United States (US) FDA has approved two vaccines; Moderna's vaccine on December 18, 2020, and the Pfizer vaccine on December 11. The vaccines are currently being distributed across the US to battle the pandemic.

The United Kingdom (UK) has also approved three vaccines; the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.

The Pfizer, Oxford and Moderna vaccines each require two doses and you are not fully vaccinated until a week after your second shot.

Meanwhile, Guinea late last year began vaccinating against COVID-19 with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine on an experimental basis, starting with government officials. It ordered only 55 doses of the Russian vaccine.

However the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the world faces a "catastrophic moral failure" because of unequal Covid vaccine policies.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was not fair for younger, healthy people in richer nations to get injections before vulnerable people in poorer states.

He said over 39 million vaccine doses had been given in 49 richer states - but one poor nation had only 25 doses.

So far, China, India, Russia, the UK and the US have all developed Covid vaccines, with others being made by multinational teams - like the American-German Pfizer vaccine.

Almost all of these nations have prioritised distribution to their own populations.

SilverNEWS | SilverFM