Ghana has become the first country in the world to receive a coronavirus vaccine for free through the United Nations-backed COVAX initiative.Australia is paying to receive vaccines through the programUNICEF delivered 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, made by the Serum Institute of India, to Ghana's capital Accra early on Wednesday.
The country's vaccination campaign will begin on March 2 and will be conducted in phases among prioritised groups, beginning with health workers, adults of 60 years and over, people with underlying health conditions and frontline executives, members of parliament, judiciary and their related staff, the country's government said in a statement.
The COVAX shipment to Ghana is the start of what will be the world's largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history, according to the statement."Today marks the historic moment for which we have been planning and working so hard.
The UN plans to deliver nearly 2 billion vaccine doses this year through the COVAX program, including 1.8 billion to poorer countries at no cost to their governments, and to cover up to 20 per cent of countries' populations. Last week, its vaccine team said 270 million doses of AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines secured for delivery this year had been taken up.
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