Ghana Gets First Shipment of J&J Vaccines From African Union

(Bloomberg) -- Ghana has received 177,600 Johnson & Johnson single-shot Covid-19 vaccines, the first of its monthly supplies under an arrangement with African Union nations.

The West African nation is one of the earliest to benefit from a supply deal agreed in March to procure 220 million doses for the continent, with the potential to order another 180 million. AU’s 55 members aim to distribute 6.4 million shots in August, the bloc’s African Vaccine Acquisition Trust said in an emailed statement.

Ghana is among the first in the region to receive the J&J single-shots that were manufactured in Africa, Minister of Health Kwaku Agyeman Manu said in the statement. The country has administered over 1.2 million vaccine doses, with about 865,000 recipients awaiting their second jabs, President Nana Akufo-Addo said last month.

AU’s agreement with J&J was made possible by a facility of $2 billion from the African Export-Import Bank, according to the statement.

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