Ghana is set to receive approximately 965,000 doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine by the end of March, the COVAX interim distribution forecast shared by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance on Wednesday, February 3 has shown.
The West African nation’s first batch of vaccines is between 35 and 40 percent of the 2,412,000 total vaccine allocation to the country.
“The doses expected should suffice to fully vaccinate Ghana‘s healthcare workforce, who are rightly the immediate priority,” Research Fellow, New York University School of Global Public Health, Nana Kofi Quakyi told GhanaFact.
The country’s COVID-19 vaccine supplies are expected to increase in the second quarter of the year, with the remaining 60-65% of total allocation expected to be made available.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has said the government plans to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of twenty million people during an address to the nation on January 31.
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More African countries to benefit
Nigeria will receive the largest share of the doses (16 million) in Africa under the programme, followed by Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo with 9 and 7 million shots respectively.
The distribution is based on the severity of the disease in COVAX-member nations, ability to meet storage and distribution conditions and level of health workers’ exposure to the coronavirus.
The COVAX interim distribution forecast will guide the allocation of about 336 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 1.2 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to participating middle- and lower-income countries around the world.
What is COVAX?
COVAX is a global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level.
On behalf of 190 participating economies, the initiative plans to access nearly two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine candidates, with concrete efforts underway to start delivery of vaccines under the COVAX programme later this month- February.
By: Sani Abdul-Rahman
