Ghana has through the Ministry of Health been an granted approval for registration and use of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to fight against the pandemic.
The approval was granted under an emergency use authorization, announced by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Saturday.
Ghana will now become the 31st country to use the Russian vaccine and the fifth nation to do so on the African continent.
CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev in a statement explained, “Ministry of Health of Ghana has thoroughly reviewed the data on safety and efficacy of Sputnik V also proven by publication in The Lancet and approved the use of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, the efficacy of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is 91.6 percent, the Russian Direct Investment Fund has published on its website.
It said to be one of only three vaccines in the world with an efficacy of over 90 percent.
Last Friday, Ghana’s Health Ministry at a press briefing reiterated plans to vaccinate some 20 million Ghanaians once the COVID-19 vaccines become available.
Additionally, Ghana is in line to receive a total of 2,412,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines under the COVAX platform.
According to the Health Minister-designate, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Ghana will also be supplied with the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, licensed to Serum Institute of India (SII) – referred to as “AZ/SII.”
This was also confirmed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drugs Authority, Deleese Mimi Darko at a recent forum.
Ghana has become the 31st country in the world and 5th state of Africa to register Sputnik V.
Sputnik V is one of the world’s top three coronavirus vaccines in terms of the number of approvals issued by government regulators.
By:Isaac Clottey
