President Akufo-Addo says the committee he set up to recommend an appropriate COVID-19 vaccine to government has duly completed its work and that has paved way for his administration to begin purchase arrangements with the suitable vaccine manufacturer.
The president was addressing participants in the 72nd Annual New Year School and Conference at the Great Hall of the Commonwealth Hall at the University of Ghana on the theme “Building Ghana in the face of a Global Health Crisis”.
President Akufo-Addo said his government will soon make public details of the work and report of the committee.
“The committee formed by government to recommend the appropriate decision on COVID-19 vaccines has completed it work enabling government to begin discussions with vaccine manufacturing companies with the goal of ordering suitable doses of the vaccines for use in Ghana. Details of this will be announced very soon,” the president said.
In his address, the president stressed that “the [COVID-19] pandemic has illustrated vividly the need for self-reliance in all areas of social and economic life”.
To this end, President Akufo-Addo argued, “It is key that we also break the cycle of dependence on foreigners in the field of science and medicine as well.”
“It is not beyond our scientist, and pharmaceutical companies, who’s knowledge and expertise cannot be questioned to produce an indigenous Ghanaian vaccine to combat the virus. We must be up and doing,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, the presidential co-ordinator for the Government of Ghana’s Coronavirus Response Programme and former deputy director of the World Health Organisation (WHO), delivered the keynote address at the ceremony.
He said the COVID-19 crisis that has bedevilled the world is a clear and present danger. Dr Asamoa-Baah called on the general public to ensure that all COVID-19 protocols are respected at all times.
Click on the link below to listen to President Akufo-Addo’s address at the 72nd New Year School and Conference:
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