Ghana plans subsidising Ebola vaccines

Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister has told Parliament that the state is considering subsidising Ebola vaccines for citizens. The vaccines are due to be ready early next year for use.

Hanna Tetteh said on the floor of the House recently that subsidising the vaccine will enable Ghanaians have access to the early consignment at a cheap price.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently appealed to African Leaders at a Summit held in Accra that it was important for African Governments to subsidise the vaccine for their country folk.

“We believe by the end of February next year, there’ll be at least a quarter of a million vaccines available; by the middle of next year about a million vaccines available; and by the end of the year, two to three million vaccines available,” Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Dr Anerfi Asamoa-Baah.

“That is the good news,” he said at the Accra Summit of ECOWAS leaders on the deadly haemorrhagic fever.

Dr Asamoa-Baah, therefore, told ECOWAS leaders at the Summit to subsidise the vaccine for their citizens.

“My first plea is for you to argue that the affected countries should have the first call on the vaccines. The vaccines will not be cheap. Our countries cannot afford this vaccine. We estimate that it will not be less 100 dollars per dose.

“So you’ll need to work with your colleague presidents so that at the minimum, this is highly subsidised, or they are donations to the affected countries.”

The bloody fever has killed more than 5,000 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea since March this year.

It has infected more than 10,000 others. Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the United States also recorded a few cases and deaths.

The WHO has described this year’s outbreak as the worst ever. The disease has a fatality rate of between 50 and 90 percent.

It kills within 21 days after infection. It is mainly transmitted through the consumption of bush meat: fruit bats, antelopes, porcupines, monkeys and apes.

Ghana has tested close to 200 suspected cases, but none has proved positive. Accra is also being used as the hub for coordinating operations and logistics in the fight against the disease.