President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo today, Tuesday, 18th April 2023, cut sod for the commencement of work on the construction of DEKs Vaccines Limited, a private sector-led consortium of Ghanaian pharmaceutical companies.

The move is part of efforts to help the nation realise the dream of becoming self-sufficient in the production and manufacture of vaccines.

President Akufo-Addo said it all started on 28th February 2021, in update 24 of series of addresses to the nation, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he declared to Ghanaians his determination to manufacture vaccines here in Ghana.

He noted that the vaccine nationalism that was played out by the developed world, with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, meant that “we had to take urgent, critical steps towards making sure that never again would we be victims or pawns of the international vaccine order,” adding “it was imperative that we took our destiny into our own hands.”

In the short term of two years, DEKs Vaccines Limited, according to the President will fill, finish, and package COVID-19 and other vaccines such as those against tuberculosis and malaria.

In the medium-term, that is in five years, the target is to continue the establishment of more domestic vaccine manufacturing plants in the country to manufacture vaccines to meet WHO GMP standards, with the long-term target being to produce a candidate vaccine in 10 years, using innovative technologies.