At Wednesday’s distinguished General Assembly session, Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, attacked several European countries who have denied recognising Indian Covishield as a proper dose of protection against Coronavirus.
Although he has not specified any name, he sure nailed the point that these countries are using unrecognition as a tool to uphold anti-immigration.
What did he precisely state?
President Afuko-Addo, in his General Debate of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, stated that it is “unfortunate” to see several European countries repudiating the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine, produced in India for travellers.
These countries use this situation as an absolute “retrogressive” way to control immigration.
He is astonished to see that the Covishield vaccines made by the Serum Institute of India and distributed by COVAX, an international facility co-led by WHO and UNICEF, are suffering unrecognition.
Who has recognised Covishield till now?
The Covid-19 vaccine has not yet made it to the list of acceptable vaccines of many countries such as Italy and Germany, where, interestingly, AstraZeneca is recognised.
The Emergency Medicines Agency, which evaluates and monitors various vaccines, also does not accept Covishield. The countries that do accept the vaccine are Netherlands, France and Britain.
However, in the UK, Indian travellers who have completed their vaccination with two doses of Covishield must quarantine for at least ten days, although the vaccine has been recognised.
Britain stated they do not have any issue with the vaccine, which has already got approved under the British Guidelines for Travel.
Still, it is the vaccine certification that is causing the problem. To solve the matter, Britain and India are currently holding talks.
Additionally, The US will begin to recognise Covishield when the mandate for travellers comes into effect from November since the vaccine has been listed for emergency use by the WHO.
How many vaccines has Africa received from India?
WHO and UNICEF are jointly responsible for the COVAX facility that distributed Covishield in Africa.
The facility is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the WHO.
According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Statistics, India provided 50,000 Covishield vaccines to Ghana and another 600,000 through COVAX and 2000 commercially.
What is Ghana trying to achieve?
Until now, 5 million people of Ghana’s total population, including frontline health workers and those with severe health conditions, have been vaccinated.
More than 20 million people are left whom Ghana desires to vaccinate by the end of 2021. To vaccinate 70 per cent of the population left in the shortest time possible, around 900 million Africans have to be vaccinated.
Although 5.7 million vaccine doses have been discharged globally, only 2 per cent has reached Africa.
According to the President of Ghana, the African Union is working closely with the World Health Organisation, World Trade Organisation and other global associates to enhance and expand the vaccine manufacturing process and its disposition.
They wholeheartedly support the idea of the scientists that vaccination is the only reliable method of protecting society against the virus.
The WHO declared that two billion doses are released for delivery and is expected to reach their destinations in the early quarter of the year 2022.
