Greece Donates 150,000 Doses of Covid Vaccine to Ghana

Greece donated over 150,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to Ghana during the visit of foreign minister Nikos Dendias to the African country last week.

The donation is expected to augment the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination exercise in Ghana and help the government achieve its target of reaching 20 million people with the life-saving vaccine.

Handing over the consignment at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Dendias said the donation is “an expression of solidarity of Greece in Ghana and its people. Greece actively supports Ghana in fighting the pandemic.”

He added that it is important for countries to share their resources so together they can win the fight against the pandemic.

“This is our contribution to your effort to tackle the pandemic that affects us all. If we do not share our resources globally, we will not be able to deal with it.”

Ghana thanks Greece for vaccines

Chief Director of Ghana’s Ministry of Health, Kwabena Boadu Oku Afari, who received the donation, thanked Greece for the kind gesture.

“Yesterday we received 100,000 doses and it is already in storage and you have accompanied another 50,000 here and we are grateful that you personally brought the vaccines here as arranged by our Foreign Affairs Minister,” he said.

He said the country was doing what it can to ensure that infections are brought down.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) as of November 18, 2021, has administered Covid-19 vaccines to 3,493,688 people out of which 2,820,092 have received their first dose and 673,596 their second dose.

The number of people who are fully vaccinated is 842,225 representing 4.2 percent of the population.

First-ever visit of Greek FM to Ghana

Dendias’ visit to Ghana is the first-ever visit of a Greek Foreign Minister to the African country.

Explaining the importance of his visit, Dendias said that Ghana “is a country that will become a member of the UN Security Council from January 1, 2022, and is the fastest-growing economy in West Africa with already more than 100 million of Greek investments.

“I believe that our country, Greece, needs to be present in sub-Saharan Africa as well. And also to be able to expound the issues of Africa in the European Union, as a country that is in greater proximity to this great developing continent,” he added.

Both Ghana and Gabon, the next stop of Dendias’ visit to sub-Saharan Africa, will become non-permanent members of the UN Security Council as of January 1, 2022, for two years.

According to diplomatic sources, Greece is strengthening ties with Security Council member countries ahead of its candidacy as a member (2025-26) of the Council, whose influence is key on issues of direct interest to Greece such as in Libya and Syria.

Dendias met earlier with his Ghanaian counterpart Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey. “What we should do is to try to put economic flesh to the bone of our existing relationship,” the Greek minister noted.

“The purpose of my visit is really to pave the way for the businessmen to invest more and do more,” Dendias underlined, adding that the two countries can also focus on collaborations in maritime security, energy, and tourism.”