High Commission of IndiaAccra, Ghana

HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA 
Accra
  
PRESS RELEASE

Dated 5 March 2021

The Government of India has today gifted 50,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVISHIELD vaccines made in India by Serum Institute of India, to Ghana. The consignment arrived this morning at the Kotoka International Airport.

The High Commissioner of India to Ghana, H.E. Mr. Sugandh Rajaram, Minister for Foreign Affairs and National Integration, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister for Health, Hon. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, and officials from the Ghana’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Ghana Health Services (GHS), and High Commission of India were present for the handing over ceremony.

The handing over took place at the Kotoka International Airport, Accra with brief remarks by the High Commissioner who underlined the special relations India has with Ghana as evidenced by the donation of 50,000 Covid vaccines by India as a gesture of friendship and solidarity. The donation of 50,000 doses of Covishield vaccines is part of the ongoing efforts of the Government of India under #Vaccine Maitri# programme to supply Covid vaccines to partner countries all over the world including in Africa. #Vaccine Maitri, he explained, means ‘Vaccine Friendship’.

The Ghanaian Foreign Minister expressed her gratitude to the Government and the People of India, and in particular to Prime Minister Modi, for the donation of the vaccines, which she said is not possible to procure even if one has the money. The Health Minister in the same vein reiterated the scarce supply of vaccines and thanked India for the timely gift. He lauded India’s role in sharing the vaccines with the people of Ghana.

Only last week Ghana was the first country in the world to receive 600,000 Covishield made in India vaccines under COVAX facility and today Ghana became the first African country to receive 50,000 Covishield vaccines as gift by the Government and the people of India.

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