The European Investment Bank (EIB), a lending arm of the European Union, has signed a €5million investment grant agreement with DEK Vaccines Limited – a consortium leading Ghana’s local vaccine manufacturing initiative.
The grant will seed-fund development of the vaccine manufacturing unit at DEK Vaccines Limited in Ghana.
This will support local vaccine manufacturing efforts, thereby reducing the high dependence on importation. It will further help create an enabling environment for local vaccine manufacturing in Africa, and tackle barriers on both supply and demand sides.
Ambassador of the European Union to Ghana, Irchard Razaaly, at the signing ceremony in Accra said: “Local health capacities and institutions are the foundation of global health, but today Africa imports 99 percent of its vaccines and 94 percent of its medicines,” a narrative that he stressed requires proactive measures to change.
He said this agreement will pave the way for essential vaccines against diseases like malaria, COVID-19, Human Papilloma Virus [which can lead to cervical cancer], pneumonia, rotavirus and cholera to be manufactured locally and become accessible to every child born in Africa.
“Team Europe in Ghana is approaching local manufacturing of vaccines holistically, with strategic interventions to support the implementation of Ghana’s vaccine-manufacturing roadmap in its various areas. Our presence here today is directly related to the roadmap’s first chapter: Establishing local production facilities for vaccines.
“In future, the EU also plans to direct its support toward implementation or other areas of the roadmap: namely building human resources capacity for vaccine research, development and manufacturing; strengthening research and development for vaccine production; and building bilateral and multilateral partnerships for vaccine production. The EU is delighted to be a part of this ambitious and pioneering voyage along Ghana’s vaccine-manufacturing roadmap,” he added.
Managing Director of DEK Vaccines Limited, Dr. Kofi Nsiah-Poku, told the B&FT that the project’s total cost exceeds US$125million. He said production will start by end of 2024, and its first product – a malaria vaccine – will be made available on the market in 2025.
“We have just started the building, which is on the Accra-Nsawam road. The official groundbreaking for the facility will be on April 18, 2023, when the president will come to unveil it. If things go as well as planned and we get the funds we need, we hope to finish the factory by end of 2024 and then, within six months, produce the first vaccine. The first vaccine, which will be the malaria vaccine, will be out around the middle of June 2025,” he noted.
DEK Vaccines Limited is a consortium of three Ghanaian companies comprising Danadams, Ernest Chemists and Kinapharma.
