President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given details of Ghana’s decision to approve the new malaria vaccine developed by scientists at Oxford University.
The malaria vaccine- R21 which will be administered to newborns and kids up to three years will help fight malaria which has become a killer disease among children.
Speaking at the inauguration of DEK Manufacturing Plant in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said government gave the approval because the vaccine has proven to be safe.
“The approval was granted following an extensive series of reviews and further peer reviews of the non-clinical and clinical quality parts of the vaccines. The R21 malaria vaccine has been approved for use for the immunisation of children between 5 months and 36 months against malaria,” President Akufo-Addo explained.
The vaccine was developed by Oxford University and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) disclosed that it has given market authorisation to the new malaria vaccine – R21 described as a ‘world changer’.
The FDA said after a thorough evaluation of the quality, efficacy, and safety of the vaccine, it realized that the benefits far outweigh the risks.
Fulfilment of pledge
He said the establishment of the company and other initiatives in the health sector were in fulfilment of the government’s pledge, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, to see to the manufacture of vaccines in the country.
He said a vaccine manufacturing committee was subsequently set up, leading to the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute, which received seed funding of $25 million from the European Investment Bank.
He said on February 14, 2023, he assented to the National Vaccine Institute Bill enacted by Parliament, adding that the board of directors of the institute would soon be outdoored.
President Akufo-Addo further said the country was venturing into vaccine development and manufacturing with Rwanda and Senegal and expressed the hope that the participating countries would become the vaccine manufacturing hub in sub-Saharan Africa.
“We want to achieve self-sufficiency in vaccine production to meet future national, regional and continental needs to ensure health security.
This will ensure that in future we shall not be at the mercy of foreign vaccine nationalism and geopolitics,” he said.
According to him, the National Vaccine Institute would coordinate and facilitate work at DEK Vaccines Limited and other domestic pharmaceutical companies, such as Atlantic Life Sciences.
The institute, he added, would also facilitate bilateral and multilateral partnerships for vaccine deployment and manufacturing in the areas of funding, clinical trials, technology transfer, human capital development, licensing and the assignment of intellectual property rights.
He expressed appreciation to COVAX, the AU and other donors and suppliers for their various interventions during the crisis period.
FDA upgrade
The President said the government was also committed to helping upgrade the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) from its current maturity level three to four to enhance its regulatory capacity for domestic vaccine development and manufacturing.
He said the FDA would also establish a vaccine log release system to strengthen research into and development of vaccines, adding: “We also want to establish a technology transfer partnership in vaccine development and provide in-house and external training programmes for staff.”