President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cut sod for the construction of DEK Vaccines Limited, a vaccine manufacturing factory, in a bid to make Ghana self-sufficient in vaccine production.
This was after the completion of the first phase of DEK Vaccines Limited.
The project with an investment of $122.6 million will witness a significant step towards securing the health of Ghanaians through locally manufactured vaccines that meet global quality standards.
Speaking during the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of DEK Vaccines Limited, President Akufo-Addo said the completion of the project would enable the production of vaccines that would meet national and regional needs with a conscious effort in being self-reliant.
“Far from viewing the pandemic as a disaster, before, we were powerless. We in Ghana embrace fully as well as the lessons it taught us, as well as the direction it is pointing us to. Particularly it has given us a good sense of how important it is to strengthen our unity in solidarity with our fellow African countries, and it has provided us with the motivation if any needed to be self-reliant. We want to achieve self-reliance in vaccine production to meet future, regional, national and continental needs for health security. We shall not then in the future be at the mercy of foreign vaccine nationalism and geopolitics”.
The Managing Director of DEK Vaccines Limited, Dr. Kofi Nsiah-Poku revealed that the project when completed will produce 600 million vaccines per year.
“DEK vaccine limited is 122 dollar investment with the capacity to produce 600 million doses of various vaccines annually. Vaccine manufacturing is technology and capital-intensive. The WHO has declared a need for preparedness for the next pandemic. This DEK vaccine is designed to have a reserved capacity for any emergency or pandemic making it special as a socio-economic business venture,” he said.
The project is made possible due to the partnership of key stakeholders including the European Union. The union has granted 5 million euros through the European Investment Bank to support the production of the vaccines.
According to the European Union, Ambassador to Ghana Irchad Razaaly the union will not relent in supporting Ghana in its quest to improve its health sector.
