United Nations:Ghana President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has criticised European countries for not recognising the Indian-made Covishield vaccine, calling it a "retrogressive" step. Speaking at the high-level General Assembly session on Wednesday, Akufo-Addo accused those countries, which he did not name, of using the non-recognition of Covishield as an anti-immigration device.
He said, "The use of vaccine as a tool for immigration control will be truly a retrogressive step." "One unfortunate development appears to be the recent measures on entry into some countries in Europe which suggests that Covishield, the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India, is not recognised by these countries," he said.
He said that it was "intriguing" that the Covishield vaccines made by the Serum Institute of India and donated to African countries by COVAX, the international facility co-led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and includes UNICEF, were not recognised. India donated 50,000 doses to Ghana, and sent 600,000 through COVAX and 2,000 commercially, according to India's Ministry of External Affairs statistics.
Akufo-Addo backed the Rome Declaration of the G20, of which India is a member, that proposed granting licences voluntarily for making vaccines. He said, "Ghana agrees with the call of the Rome Declaration of Global Health for voluntary licensing and technology transfer to boost vaccine production. The African Union is working with WHO WTO and other global partners to expand vaccine manufacturing and deployment."