President Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cut sod for the construction of DEK Vaccines
Limited, a vaccine manufacturing factory, in a bid to make Ghana
self-sufficient in vaccine production.
This is after
the completion of the first phase of DEK Vaccines Limited.
The project with
an investment of $122.6 million will witness a significant step towards
securing the health of Ghanaians through locally manufactured vaccines that
meet global quality standards.
Speaking during
the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of DEK Vaccines Limited,
President Akufo-Addo said the completion of the project would enable the
production of vaccines that would meet national and regional needs with a
conscious effort in being self-reliant.
“Far from
viewing the pandemic as a disaster, before, we were powerless. We in Ghana
embrace fully as well as the lessons it taught us, as well as the direction it
is pointing us to. Particularly it has given us a good sense of how important
it is to strengthen our unity in solidarity with our fellow African countries,
and it has provided us with the motivation if any needed to be self-reliant. We
want to achieve self-reliance in vaccine production to meet future, regional,
national and continental needs for health security. We shall not then in the
future be at the mercy of foreign vaccine nationalism and geopolitics”.
The Managing
Director of DEK Vaccines Limited, Dr. Kofi Nsiah-Poku revealed that the project
when completed will produce 600 million vaccines per year.
“DEK vaccine
limited is 122m dollar investment with the capacity to produce 600 million doses
of various vaccines annually. Vaccine manufacturing is technology and
capital-intensive. The WHO has declared a need for preparedness for the next
pandemic. This DEK vaccine is designed to have a reserved capacity for any
emergency or pandemic making it special as a socio-economic business venture,” he
said.
The project is
made possible due to the partnership of key stakeholders including the European
Union. The union has granted 5 million euros through the European Investment
Bank to support the production of the vaccines.
According to the
European Union, Ambassador to Ghana Irchad Razaaly the union will not
relent in supporting Ghana in its quest to improve its health sector.
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