Greece donates Covid-19 vaccine to Ghana

The government of Greece has handed over 150,000 doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to the Ministry of Health (MoH) as part of its contribution to the pandemic response.

The donation is expected to augment the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination exercise in the country and help the government achieve its target of reaching 20 million people with the lifesaving vaccine.

Handing over the consignment at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Greece, Nicolaos Dendias, said it is important for countries to share their resources so together they can win the fight against the pandemic.

“We hope that you would use it for the benefit of Ghanaians,” he added.

Chief Director of the Ministry of Health, Kwabena Boadu Oku Afari, who received the donation, thanked the Greece government for the kind gesture.

“Yesterday we received 100,000 doses and it is already in storage and you have accompanied another 50,000 here and we are grateful that you personally brought the vaccines here as arranged by our Foreign Affairs Minister,” he said.

He said the country was doing what it can to ensure that infections are brought down.

“This will add to the stock that we have and help us to vaccinate our population,” the MoH Chief Director said.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) as at November 18, 2021, has administered Covid-19 vaccines to 3,493,688 people out of which 2,820,092 have received their first dose and 673,596 their second dose.

The number of people who are fully vaccinated are 842,225 representing 4.2 per cent of the population.

The vaccines that have been given approval by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to be administered in the country include AstraZeneca, Spitnik-V, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson.

---DGN online