Ghana to receive over 1.3 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine
Ghana has reported 92,740 cases of Covid-19 since the first one in March 2020.
CAPE TOWN, May 5 (ANA) – Ghana is set to receive over 1.3 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine on May 15, media reported, citing a statement issued by President Nana Akufo-Addo.
According to media reports, the president said on Sunday the acquisition of the life-saving vaccines would allow the economy and general life in the West African country to return to some sort of normalcy.
According to official data, Ghana has to date reported 92,740 cases of the coronavirus since the first ones emerged in March last year. Of these, 780 people have lost their lives, but just over 90,000 have recovered.
Cases numbers have also drastically decreased since mid March, allaying fears of a third wave of the pandemic.
According to news website The Conversation, to date Ghana has managed to vaccinate nearly 850,000 people through a roll-out campaign which started on March 1.
The country, which was one of the first to receive vaccines through the COVAX global facility — around 600,000 jabs — says it is targeting 20 million people to have been inoculated by October, although many local and international observers say this is rather ambitious.
Recently, Ghanaian authorities told citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Covid-19 hotspot countries.
The BBC reported that those planning to travel to countries with high infection rates had been urged to postpone or cancel their trips.
The government mentioned Asia and South America as some of the regions with “alarming rates of infections”.
According to Deutsche Welle, President Vladimir Putin has boasted that Sputnik V is “the best vaccine in the world,” and Russian media has regularly touted the vaccine’s record exports abroad.
– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa