The German government is to support Ghana to conduct feasibility studies on the possibility of producing vaccines locally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When successful, the initiative will help accelerate national plans to produce vaccines for better health outcomes and job creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking with the Daily Graphic in Accra last Monday, the German Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Christoph Retzlaff, said the COVID-19 pandemic had shown how critical it was for Africa to produce its own vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the shortage of vaccines and the dependence on delivery from other parts of the world were major hurdles in Africa\u2019s fight against the global pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf I am informed well, Africa is producing only one per cent of vaccines that are needed on the continent. I am not talking just about the COVID-19 but all vaccines needed on the continent. There is almost no vaccine production capacity in sub-Saharan Africa; it is a situation we have to change together,\u201d the Ambassador added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Form of support<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Retzlaff said as part of the support, Germany, through its development cooperation implementing agency, the GIZ, was assisting a committee set up by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to lead the national vaccine production agenda with funding and technical assistance from Germany to conduct initial feasibility studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said stakeholders were in the process of determining the cost of the feasibility studies, which are to begin soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are also linking the committee up with German technical experts and relevant Ghanaian players in science, industry and government, including the German pharmaceutical industry, such as Merck and BBraun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome of these global players have already established offices in Accra (Merck, BBraun). The German Delegation of Industry and Commerce in Ghana, AHK, recently organised the first German-Ghanaian Health Forum to bring together all the players,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On why they chose to support Ghana, he said Germany believed that Ghana offered a favourable investment atmosphere for vaccine production and could become the hub for vaccine production in West Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis will equip Ghana and West Africa better in their fight against future pandemics and diseases such as Ebola, Lassa and Yellow Fever,\u201d Mr Retzlaff said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to him, Ghana was the most attractive country in West Africa, considering its political stability, infrastructure and the level of science education in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Global health and pandemic prevention<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Retzlaff said the additional effort by Germany to make vaccines accessible in Africa included the setting up of the first German-West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention to share science and knowledge in Ghana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis will be one of four such centres in the world. The centre will be a collaboration among three universities \u2014 the FU Berlin University, the University of Bonn, both in Germany, and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGermany is to provide 600,000 Euro per year for the programme until 2025, with an option to extend it to 2030,\u201d he said.
Additionally, the Ambassador said, the German pharmaceutical company, Merck, was to start a \u201cMerck Africa Vaccine Initiative\u201d project to build the capacity of some African countries in vaccine production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n