COVAX Ships 600,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses to Ghana

Ghana is the first country outside of India to get the COVID-19 vaccine from COVAX, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) eight-month-old vaccine-sharing program.

This week, COVAX shipped 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India to Ghana’s capital city, Accra. Destination: the arms of frontline health workers and others at high risk, said the WHO and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in a joint statement.

The COVAX initiative — which is headed by the WHO, UNICEF, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) — pools funds from wealthier countries and nonprofits to distribute COVID-19 vaccines equitably around the world.