Ghanaian pharmaceutical companies to distribute COVID-19 vaccines produced in Africa – Nana Addo

The German manufacturing giant, BioNTech on Thursday, June 23, 2022, cut sod for the construction of a vaccine production plant in Kigali, Rwanda, which will have Ghana and Senegal playing the packaging and finishing roles.

“A consortium of Ghanaian pharmaceutical companies led by DEX Vaccine Limited is working closely with BioNTech Rwanda, BioNTech Germany and BioNTech Denmark to package and finish the product in Ghana from the plant here in Rwanda”, he said.

In his remarks, the President indicated that the import of the Pan-African Project means that Ghana, Senegal and Rwanda must work together, the reason why the relationship between the Food and Drugs Authorities (FDA) of Ghana and Rwanda is being deepened with the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding on Friday, 24th June.

“Through this, FDA Ghana, which achieved WHO Global Benchmarking Maturity Level Three (3) in 2020, and is working hard to achieve Maturity Level Four (4) by the end of this year, will assist FDA Rwanda to attain WHO Maturity Level Three (3) as soon as possible

President Akufo-Addo continued, “Again, collaboration between our two countries resulted recently in a team from Rwanda visiting research institutions in Ghana, with the aim of strengthening institutional development and partnership towards vaccine discovery and advancement”.

In addition, the President revealed that Ghana’s research institutions are undergoing capacity-building to be ready for the discovery and development of vaccines and other biologicals, stating that “a consortium of Ghanaian pharmaceutical companies, led by DEKS Vaccines Ltd., is working closely with BioNTech Rwanda, BioNTech Germany and kENUP to fill, finish and package the drug product in Ghana from the plant here in Rwanda.”

He thanked BioNTech of Germany, kENUP Foundation, IFC, EIB and the other financial institutions for working closely together with African countries to enable the continent achieve vaccine self-sufficiency.