Ghana to pre-qualify local companies to manufacture vaccines for African market

Ghana is set to pre-qualify local companies for vaccine manufacturing in both the domestic and African markets, according to Dr Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey, CEO of the National Vaccine Institute. The decision comes after Ghana's participation in the Africa Pool Procurement Mechanism, which is expected to present opportunities for local manufacturers to compete for supply contracts across the continent.

Ghana plans to manufacture and supply selected vaccines, rather than relying solely on imports. A regional meeting is scheduled for November in Accra to identify and prepare suitable companies. Interested companies must demonstrate their manufacturing capacity and the volume of vaccines they can produce. The selected vaccines for the initial phase are based on their importance to Ghana's immunization program and incentives available under the Gavi-supported Africa Vaccines Manufacturing Accelerator initiative.

Ghana aims to start with vaccines without subsidies before moving to more complex manufacturing. The government plans to purchase initial products, enabling local manufacturers to expand into more challenging productions. Additionally, Ghana is exploring research and development for diseases with no established vaccines, such as mpox and Ebola.