The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured that the government is on course to purchase some 42 million additional COVID-19 doses by close of the year.

He says talks are far advanced to get the vaccines into the country.

“Government remains on course to procuring a total of 42 million vaccines to achieve its target of 20 million vaccinated Ghanaians by the end of the year.”

“This would mean that the entire adult population of our country would have been vaccinated by the end of the year,” the President said.

So far, close to 500,000 persons have received their first jab, according to the Ghana Health Service.

In all, Ghana has received a little over 800,000 vaccines.

These included 600,000 via the COVAX facility, 50,000 from the Indian government and 165,000 from MTN.

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) also says Ghana could start importing unpackaged COVID-19 vaccines in bulk for local companies to fill into vials.

The FDA has said this is likely to happen within six months.

President Akufo-Addo has indicated Ghana’s willingness to begin manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines.

The government has established a committee to formulate a concrete plan for vaccine development and manufacturing in Ghana.

Ghana began its coronavirus vaccination drive on March 2, 2020, with 600,000 AstraZeneca doses it received from the global COVAX vaccine-sharing facility.