The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has indicated plans to begin training its staff and setting up state-of-the-art laboratories as part of efforts toward the manufacturing of vaccines in the country.
In line with this, an amount of 2.8 million Euros has been allocated to the authority.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the launch of the institutional and technical strengthening of the FDA for Vaccine Manufacturing in Ghana, CEO of the Authority, Mimi Delese Darko, stated her outfit is working to bring its staff up to speed with the latest vaccine production skills and technology.
“We have been testing vaccines, but now we are building the capacity and a molecular laboratory and a clean room. There is funding, and we have been inspecting a lot of laboratories around the world, and we have the capacity so for now, we have to train more people to evaluate vaccine documents.”
The Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare says government will be collaborating with the private sector to establish factories to manufacture well-recognized vaccines.
According to him, government will assist the private sector to achieve this aim.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his state of the nation address in March 2022 indicated that Ghana will start producing COVID-19 vaccines in 2024.
Dr. Nsiah Asare noted that plans are underway to make the country a vaccine hub.
“What we want to do is to build capacity in Ghana for the country to become a hub for vaccine manufacturing. The Ghana government is going to work with the private sector. The private sector will be assisted to facilitate the production of world-recognized vaccines.”
The government plans to invest in the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute to spearhead the country’s efforts at producing vaccines locally.
The project is envisioned to be a private-public partnership arrangement.
