Akufo-Addo cuts sod for construction of $122 million DEK vaccine manufacturing plant

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cut the sod for the start of construction work on a US$122 million project which, on completion, will become Ghana’s first large-scale vaccine manufacturing plant.

The plant will be a “fill and finish” site that imports components of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines for processing, packaging and distribution nationwide and within the West Africa region. It will also manufacture malaria vaccines.

The plant will work under the private sector-led consortium DEK Vaccines Ltd.

Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony for the project at Medie, in the Ga East District of the Greater Accra Region, on Tuesday (18 April 2023), President Akufo-Addo said events relating to the global manufacture and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines were a clear warning to African countries to rethink and redevelop its vaccine manufacturing capacity.

Vaccine nationalism

President observed that “the vaccine nationalism that was played out by the developed world with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines meant that we [Africans] had to take urgent, critical steps towards making sure that never again would we be victims of the international vaccine order. It was imperative that we took our destiny into our own hands.”

President Akufo-Addo said his administration took steps to formulate a credible plan of action towards this end, promoting vaccine development and manufacturing domestically.

Plan of action

President Akufo-Addo said that the plan of action led to the establishment in July 2021 of the National Vaccine Institute (NVI), which attracted seed funding of $25 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

About two months ago, on 14 February 2023, he added, the National Vaccine Institute Bill was enacted by Parliament and he has given assent to it. The board of directors of the National Vaccine Institute will soon be outdoored.

All of these efforts have brought Ghana to the point where actual construction of a vaccine manufacturing plant is commencing.

President Akufo-Addo said that Ghana, together with Rwanda and Senegal, is venturing into vaccine manufacturing and the three countries are “determined to become vaccine manufacturing hubs south of the Sahara”.

“We want to achieve self-sufficiency in vaccine production to meet future national, regional and continental needs for health security.

“We shall not then in the future be at the mercy of vaccine nationalism and geopolitics,” President Akufo-Addo said.

“In a short term of two years, DEK Vaccines Ltd will fill, finish and package COVID-19 and other vaccines I have enumerated. The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) will also establish a vaccine non-release system and will strengthen further research and development for vaccine production,” he said.

Malaria vaccines

Among others, President Akufo-Addo noted that “one of the vaccines to be produced by DEK is the malaria vaccine”, R21, which has been approved for use in Ghana.

“As you may know, Ghana, on 28 March 2023, became the first country to grant approval to the R21 malaria vaccine, developed by Oxford University in the United Kingdom and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, to be used in Ghana,” President Akufo-Addo said.

“The approval was granted following an extensive series of reviews and further peer reviews of the non-clinical and clinical quality paths of the vaccine product development dossier.

“The R21 vaccine has been approved for use for the immunisation of children aged five months to 36 months against malaria,” the president said.

Commitment to timelines

The managing director of DEK Vaccines Ltd, Kofi Nsiah-Poku, delivered remarks at the sod-cutting ceremony. Dr Nsiah-Poku said DEK Vaccines Ltd is a $122 million investment has a capacity to manufacture 600 million doses of various vaccines annually.

Vaccine manufacturing, Dr Nsiah-Poku said, “is technology- and capital-intensive”. In line with the World Health Organization’s directive to all countries to prepare for future pandemics, the DEK factory is designed to maintain a reserve capacity to cover any such emergency.

He added that the DEK Vaccine consortium, together with the Government of Ghana and the European Union, is committed to ensuring that it completes construction of the plant by the end of the year 2024 so that vaccine production can start in 2025.

European support

Both the British high commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, and the European Union ambassador to Ghana, Irchad Razaaly, attended the sod-cutting ceremony.

In separate statement, the two envoys pledged the support of both the United Kingdom and the EU for the DEK Vaccines manufacturing project.

The DEK agenda

Recognising the critical importance of health infrastructure in promoting sustainable health security against infectious diseases across the globe and particularly in the African region, the Government of Ghana has prioritised the manufacturing of vaccines in Ghana as a key component of its health-care strategy.

The DEK Vaccine factory on the outskirts of Accra is a significant project. It aims to manufacturing 600 million doses of vaccines annually, including vaccines for malaria, human papillomavirus (HPV), pneumonia, rotavirus and cholera, with the full value chain.

The project will begin with “fill and finish” and eventually incorporate vaccine manufacturing and production, with a plan to construct a total of four fill and finish lines that can fill any type of vaccine.

Using state-of-the-art technology, the fill and finish facility will have the capacity to fill both mRNA and orthodox vaccines.

The development of DEK Vaccines Ltd carries both direct and indirect socio-economic benefits, as the adoption and maintenance of reliable health security infrastructure serves as the foundation for sustainable economic growth.

DEK’s investment of $122.6 million will complete the first phase of the project, providing employment for over 250 full-time employees. It is a significant step towards securing health across Africa using locally manufactured vaccines that meet global quality standards.

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