The Ghanaian government through the Ministry of Health has shared news of the approval of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus under the emergency use authorization procedure, making Ghana the 31st country in the world and the 5th state in Africa to register for the Russian vaccine.
The Covishield/ Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine has also been approved and will be used side by side with the Sputnik V vaccine.
The Sputnik V vaccine is said to be around 92% effective against Covid-19, one of the highest among the recognised vaccines. The Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine has also shown great results with about 63% efficacy in symptomatic patients. Both vaccines have been declared safe by the World Health Organisation and the European Medicines Agency respectively.
Other vaccines like the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine and the more recent J&J vaccine provide varying degrees of protection from the virus and its various strains.
With over 80,000 recorded COVID cases and about 530 deaths, the government of Ghana is on the right track to protect the citizens of the country. 17.6 million doses of the vaccines are set to be delivered to the country with the vaccination exercise slated to begin in the first week of March, according to Kwame Amponsa-Akyianu, Ghana’s program manager for the Expanded Program on Immunisation.
According to the President, His Excellency Nana Akufu-Addo in an address to the nation, the aim is to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of twenty million people, largely expected to be frontline workers and people most vulnerable to the virus.
The first shipment of the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine are expected to reach the shores of Ghana by the end of this week to make way for the vaccination exercise in the incoming weeks.
