The Republic of Ghana has received 177,600 Johnson & Johnson single-shot Covid-19 vaccines, the first of its monthly supplies under an arrangement with African Union nations.
Ghana is one of the earliest African countries to benefit from a supply deal agreed in March to procure 220 million doses for the continent, with the potential to order another 180 million.
AU’s 55 members aim to distribute 6.4 million shots in August, the bloc’s African Vaccine Acquisition Trust said in an emailed statement.
A statement by Ghana’s Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu stated that the country is among the first in the region to receive the J&J single-shots that were manufactured in Africa, said in the statement.
So far the country has administered over 1.2 million vaccine doses, with about 865,000 recipients awaiting their second jabs, President Nana Akufo-Addo said last month.
AU’s agreement with J&J was made possible by a facility of $2 billion from the African Export-Import Bank, according to the statement.
