German Cooperation to host Ghana’s President Akufo Addo, and high-level international delegation in Germany

Three heads of state will from today, 16 February 2022, visit Germany and neighbouring countries as part of efforts to broker partnerships for the establishment of a COVID-19 vaccine ‘fill-and-finish’ plant in Ghana.

With initial funding of €5 million Euros from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), high-level discussions are underway to transform Ghana into a leading Pan African vaccine producer in the Sub-region.

To this end, the Government of Ghana has already set up a Presidential Vaccine Manufacturing Committee headed by Ghana’s Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng. This comes in the quest by governments of the world to seek solutions that address the inadequate access to COVID-19 vaccines for their populations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already claimed about five million lives globally (WHO, 2021), leading to job losses and economic decline (World Bank, 2021). It has revealed gaps in national health systems and brought many lessons to the fore.

Ghana and many other developing countries could not access an adequate number of vaccine doses for their populations. Due to the high demand that outstrips supply, Ghana and most African countries could not reach the World Health Organisation (WHO) 40 per cent vaccination target by the end of 2021.

While some other regions and countries have recorded over 50 percent access to the COVID vaccine, less than 5 per cent of Africa’s population only, has been able to get vaccinated as of the end of 2021. To further protect citizens from the pandemic and promote wellbeing, this important initiative was born.

Also importantly, it will ensure limited dependence on vaccine production outside Africa and the corresponding challenges of planning quantities and schedules of vaccine supplies.

Through the support of the German Development Cooperation, the Presidential Manufacturing Committee has developed a 10-year roadmap towards local manufacturing of vaccines.

The Ghana Government has already demonstrated commitment to the establishment of the vaccine industry and Ghana is expected to produce its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines by early 2024; it will then scale up into the production of other vaccines for the country and the sub-region.

The Presidential Committee is expected to expand into a National Vaccine Institute to oversee the development of the vaccine industry in Ghana.
In the past few weeks, great progress has been made towards the establishment of the COVID-19 vaccine fill-and-finish plant.

Towards the end of the year 2021 kENUP Foundation, currently representing the COVID-19 vaccine producing company BioNTech in Africa, visited Ghana and an agreement was reached for a collaboration between Ghana and Rwanda to jointly build the whole production process for COVID-19 vaccines in Africa: in Rwanda BioNTech will produce the vaccines, in Ghana they will be filled-and-finished.

As a local investor for the fill-and-finish facility, the Presidential Committee selected a consortium of three local pharmaceutical companies: DEK Vaccines. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is playing lead facilitation and coordination role (on behalf of the German Cooperation), to drive this important process in Ghana.

This is being done through technical and logistical support to the Vaccine Manufacturing Committee. International technical partners have been secured to support DEK Vaccines with services in the construction, establishment and machines for the plant: BioNTech, Merck, Rommerlag, Apiject, Siemens, Glatt.

“The German Federal Government appreciates the strategic importance of Ghana’s decision to become a vaccine manufacturing hub and the significant impact it will have for improving public health in Ghana and the sub-region, hence our decision to support this strategy,” explains Mad. Dorothee Dinkelaker, Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy in Ghana.

The high-level delegation visit to Germany and neighbouring countries is intended to deepen partnerships with European companies and academia. Together with Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and his peers – President Macky Sall of Senegal, and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, the delegation will attend the launch of a BioNTech model production facility for mRNA vaccines in Marburg, Germany on 16th February.

“The Vaccine Manufacturing Committee (VMC) has found in the German Development Corporation a very dependable partner on its journey towards vaccine production in Ghana. The Committee could not have come this far without the facilitation and support of the Development Cooperation, through GIZ.

"The VMC is extremely grateful for the immeasurable assistance that has sped up and solidified the process towards vaccine production in Ghana,” noted Professor Frimpong-Boateng, Chairman of the Presidential Vaccine Committee.

Ghana has attained a lower-middle-income country status and will no longer qualify for free or subsidised vaccine support under the ‘GAVI’ programme from 2027. Formerly, the ‘Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation,’ GAVI is a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.

Therefore, Ghana’s decision to manufacture vaccines locally will address its vaccine needs.

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