EU names Ghana as Africa’s manufacturing hub for COVID-19 vaccine
The European Commission has named Ghana as one of its possible manufacturing hubs of COVID-19 vaccines in Africa.
According to the Ghanian government’s spokesperson Eugene Arhin on Friday, the announcement was made during a two-day working visit by President Nana Akufo-Addo to Brussels, Belgium, on May 19 and May 20.
It said that the European Commission unveiled the selection of Ghana as a possible manufacturing hub for COVID-19 vaccines in Africa at a meeting with the vice president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis.
The Commission said this follows the initiatives already taken by the Ghanaian government towards the domestic manufacturing of vaccines.
Earlier this month, three Ghanaian companies working to produce COVID-19 vaccines locally presented proposals on their plans to the government.
Taskforce teams from the EU and Ghana will meet shortly to discuss modalities towards the realisation of this initiative, which, in principle, could be supported by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the statement said.
The EU announced on Friday in Rome that it intends to invest one billion euros (about US$1.2 billion) to build COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing hubs in Africa.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said it will also donate at least 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to low- and middle-income countries by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Health in Nigeria Dr Osagie Ehanire, had earlier in the month attributed the inability to procure the required technology as the reason why local production of COVID-19 vaccines cannot begin in Nigeria, despite the N10 billion released by the ministry of finance to support COVID-19 vaccine production in the country.
In April, Twitter also announced that it would establish its African headquarters in Ghana.
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