Government has procured over 177,600 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine from the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) initiative for the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The vaccines arrived at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on Saturday, August 7.

The Deputy Minister for Health, Tina Mensah, led the delegation to receive the vaccines.

According to Mrs Mensah, the Ministry of Health will continue to deliver on its mandate of ensuring a healthy population for national development.

The vaccines arrived at a time when the country has been hit with the third wave of the pandemic.

The African Vaccine Acquisition Trust mechanism was established by the African Union with support from the African EXIM Bank, Africa CDC and the World Bank.

On Sunday, July 25, while delivering his 26th update on the Covid-19 fight, President Akufo-Addo announced that government is procuring some 18,478,670 vaccines through the COVAX facility, African Medicine Supply Platform and other bodies to help in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The United States of America, through the COVAX facility, is providing one million Pfizer vaccines, the African Union is providing 229,670 Pfizer vaccines, while the United Kingdom is giving out 249,000 AstraZeneca vaccines.

“Government is also in the process of procuring 17 million single doses per person Johnson & Johnson vaccines, through the African Medicine Supply Platform, in this quarter,” he added.

Also, he disclosed that the country’s national, regional and district cold chain facilities have been upgraded to widen access to vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna, which require minus seventy degrees Celsius (-70℃) cold chains.

So far, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has vaccinated 1,271,393 Ghanaians.

Out of this figure, 405,971 persons have received both jabs, while 865,422 have only received the first dose of vaccines.