On Tuesday, 18th April 2023, Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo cut the sod for the commencement of work on the construction of DEKs Vaccines Ltd, a private sector-led consortium of Ghanaian pharmaceutical companies, which will help our nation realise the dream of becoming self-sufficient in the production and manufacture of vaccines.
It all started on 28th February 2021, in update twenty-four (24) of what has come to be known as the “Fellow Ghanaian” series of addresses to the nation, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when He declared to the Ghanaian people his determination to manufacture vaccines here in Ghana.
The vaccine nationalism that was played out by the developed world, with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, meant that Ghana 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 Ghana takes it destiny into her own hands.
In the short term of two (2) years, DEKs Vaccines Ltd will fill, finish, and package COVID-19 and other vaccines such as those against tuberculosis and malaria. 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.
