The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has announced that African countries have been granted approval to produce Covid-19 vaccines for the next five years.
She noted that it was inappropriate that 99% of vaccinations used in Africa are imported.
As a result, the WTO, after engagement with other countries, has granted African countries permission to produce their own vaccines without worrying about being accused of patent infringement.
“We were also able at this ministerial to have an agreement to introduce more flexibilities, a waiver on the patent of vaccines so that African countries and other countries can manufacture their vaccines.
It is not proper that we import 99% of the vaccines we use in the continent and 90% are other pharmaceuticals,” she stated.
Dr Ngozi made this known during a meeting with Ghana’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir Hammond.
She emphasised that the responsibilities of the WTO include protecting the laws and regulations that control international trade and improving people’s lives.
The WTO boss urged governments to expedite the ratification of a contract to ban dangerous fishing compounds worth $22 million that have an impact on the country’s fisheries industry.
Mr Hammond, on his part, called for increased capacity so that undeveloped countries could actively engage in WTO discussions and gain from the Multilateral Trading System(MTS). He also proposed the restoration of a fully operational two-tier dispute settlement structure, namely Panels and the Appellate Body, to provide the MTS with the necessary predictability and assurance.
Furthermore, he called for increased transparency in government trade policies, particularly with regard to export bans and limitations as seen during the height of the COVID-19 issue.
President Akufo-Addo has officially cut sod for the development of DEKs Vaccines Ltd, a group of Ghanaian pharmaceutical enterprises.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the construction of the vaccine manufacturing plant “will help our nation realise the dream of becoming self-sufficient in the production and manufacture of vaccines”.
Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, 18th April 2023, at Media, in the Ga West Municipality, the President indicated that the vision to manufacture vaccines in Ghana began on 28th February, 2021, in update 24 of what has come to be known as the “Fellow Ghanaians” series of addresses to the nation.
“The vaccine nationalism that was played out by the developed world, with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, meant that we had to take urgent, critical steps towards making sure that never again would we be victims or pawns of the international vaccine order. It was imperative that we took our destiny into our own hands,” he said.
To this end, President Akufo-Addo indicated that he established a committee, under the chairmanship of the former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, to formulate a concrete plan of action towards domestic vaccine development and manufacturing.
This plan of action, he explained, culminated in the announcement of the establishment, in July 2021, of the National Vaccine Institute, with seed funding of $25 million from the European Investment Bank.
“Indeed, some two (2) months ago, on 14th February 2023, the National Vaccine Institute Bill 2022 was enacted by Parliament, for which I have given assent, and whose Board of Directors will soon be outdoored,” the President said. President Akufo-Addo cuts sod for vaccine manufacturing plant
He continued, “Its establishment has enabled the National Vaccine Institute work in unison with Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Ghana, to boost our country’s capacity to be self-reliant in the production of vaccines, and bring all of us to this gathering where work on the construction of DEKs Vaccines Ltd will soon begin.”
Whilst appreciating the COVAX, AU and AVATT in COVID-19 vaccine supply initiatives, President Akufo-Addo indicated that Ghana is also venturing into vaccine development and manufacturing with her sister African countries of Rwanda and Senegal, so as to become vaccine manufacturing hubs in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The National Vaccine Institute will co-ordinate and facilitate the capacity of DEKS Vaccines Ltd and other domestic pharmaceutical companies, such as Atlantic LifeSciences, a company operating under Government’s 1-District-1-Factory Programme, which I commissioned in April 2022, to fill, finish and package mRNA COVID-19 and other vaccines such as those against malaria and tuberculosis,” the President said.
He stated that, in the short term of two years, DEKs Vaccines Ltd will fill, finish, and package COVID-19 and the other vaccines for those against malaria and tuberculosis.
“In the medium-term, that is in five (5) years, the target is to continue the establishment of more domestic vaccine manufacturing plants in the country to manufacture vaccines to meet WHO GMP standards, with the long-term target being to produce a candidate vaccine in ten (10) years, using innovative technologies,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo thanked the German Government, its agency GIZ, the Consortium of International Partners, the European Investment Bank, which provided the five-million-euro (€5 million) grant to kickstart the project, and the European Union, which have been assisting Ghana in this endeavour.
He also thanked the chairperson and members of the Presidential Committee on Vaccine Manufacturing “for the excellent work they have done so far in bringing us to this point.”
A section of the public, including Joan Atippo, a senior journalist at a popular media organisation in Accra, declined to take the COVID-19 jab.
She was caught in the web of conspiracy theories including one which, claimed that the vaccine had a microchip embedded in it.
“I do not know what has been used to develop the vaccine and no one has educated me on that. The videos I have seen on these vaccines are scary. A friend who is a big person shared it with me and I have no doubt in my mind about the authenticity of the content,” she said.
One other that validated her suspicion was a video of a mobile phone that was stacked on the arm of someone who had finished taking the vaccine.
Ignorant of the formulation of any of the COVID-19 vaccines, Joan was not the only person, but a good number of constituents were immersed in that machination.
It took the intervention of an official from Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, who explained the vaccine formulation processes and ingredients before she agreed to take the shot.
Joan’s story is similar to many in Ghana, Africa and the world who initially held that position, but through innovative strategies including risk communication and community engagement, has countered the low-risk perception and misinformation on COVID-19 vaccines in communities.
According to COVID-19 Tracker Online, about 68 per cent of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Nearly 13 billion doses have been administered globally, and 1.84 million are now administered each day. About 24 per cent of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.
Disinformation and misinformation
Ghana was the first country in the world to receive COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility. It kicked off her vaccination drive on March 1, 2021, making its rollout among the longest-running in Africa.
Despite the longevity of its vaccination programme, by the beginning of 2022, less than half of the target population of 20 million people had received at least one vaccine dose and only about 13 per cent were fully vaccinated.
To improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake, in February 2022, Ghana instituted its first National COVID-19 Vaccination Day, building firmly on the foundation of previous National Immunization Days for Polio.
As of mid-August, 2022, a total of 20,220,960 COVID-19 vaccine doses, have been administered through the vaccination programme to more than 11 million people.
However, a segment of the population is still hesitating about the vaccine.
Dr Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, the Programme Manager for the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) at the Ghana Health Service, says one of the top major obstacles the vaccination programmes faced was deliberate misinformation and disinformation.
“In reference to the video where someone rubbed a mobile phone at the injected arm and got stuck, that cannot be said to be anything new or caused by the vaccine. It would have happened even before the vaccination,” he said.
“It is possible for that to happen due to Van der Waals forces – relatively weak electric forces that attract neutral molecules to one another in gases, in liquefied and solidified gases, and in almost all organic liquids and solids”.
Although, he says it was the wish of many to have access to medication for the pandemic when people were dying and getting sick, other sections of the public were not willing to take the jab until they were convinced.
COVID-19 vaccine: the main ingredient and how it works
The COVID-19 vaccine, like many others, was developed to help the human body develop immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 without having to get the illness.
Dr Amponsa-Achiano explains that the critical component of the vaccine formulation includes a modified part of the virus or germ tissue of the COVID-19 virus.
“The vaccine is introduced to your body as a jab, which contains the modified part of the virus. It builds and prepares the body to withstand in case the virus is finally contracted.
He says the development of new vaccines goes through steps prioritising the keywords “safety and efficacy” before it receives final approval for use.
Dr Amponsa-Achiano states that the vaccine does not affect or interact with the human DNA or enter the nucleus of the cell where one’s DNA is located, and cannot change or influence one’s genes.
Dr Charu Kaushic, the Scientific Director at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research explains that all vaccines work by teaching our immune system to recognize a pathogen – a disease-causing organism.
In the case of COVID-19 vaccines, this pathogen is the SARS-CoV-2 virus. When a vaccinated person comes into contact with SARS-CoV-2, their immune system (the body’s defence mechanism) responds by attacking the virus and preventing it from making them sick.
She says getting a COVID-19 vaccine helps protect the person who is vaccinated and helps protect the whole community. The more people who are vaccinated, the lower the individual risk of contracting the disease.
Cecilia Lodonu-Senoo, Executive Director of Hope for Future Generation says Ghana’s vaccine programme has recorded successes, especially on the African continent.
She is of the view that there are still the likes of many Joan’s out there who need to be sensitised to be part of the COVID-19 vaccination success story for the country to achieve herd immunity.
She called on the media and civil society organisations to intensify the campaign for more [people to get vaccinated to save themselves, their families and the nation.
