-As Akufo Addo’s Eagerness For Freebies Traps Ghanaian Vaxxers
Some 600,000 Ghanaians who have eagerly submitted to be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine gifted to the country from India, will not be allowed entry into Europe, Whatsup News can report.
According to a report by CNN on June 29, 2021, the African Union and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have voiced “concern” after it emerged that Europe’s digital “green pass” does not recognize a vaccine that was donated to many African countries through the COVAX initiative.
The European Union Digital Covid Certificate enables people who have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine approved by its medicines regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), to travel freely within the bloc.
But the pass only recognizes AstraZeneca doses (branded Vaxzevria) made by EMA-approved manufacturers in Europe, US, South Korea and China — not those manufactured by the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India (branded Covishield).
A statement sent to CNN, the EMA confirmed that Vaxzevria is only Covid-19 shot from AstraZeneca for which approval was requested — leading to its authorization in the EU.
“In the EU, the vaccine called Covishield does not currently have a marketing authorization. Even though it may use an analogous production technology to Vaxzevria, Covishield as such is not currently approved under EU rules,” the EMA said.
“This is because vaccines are biological products,” the agency stated. “Even tiny differences in the manufacturing conditions can result in differences in the final product, and EU law, therefore, requires the manufacturing sites and production process to be assessed and approved as part of the authorization process.”
The EMA statement added: “Should we receive a marketing authorization application for Covishield or should any change to the approved manufacturing sites for Vaxzevria be approved, we would communicate about it.”
Incidentally, some 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca gifted to Ghana recently with additional doses received recently were Covishield vaccines from India. This means that all those who received the vaccine in Ghana will have a tough time being allowed to travel to the EU.
Covishield has been described as the “backbone” of COVAX contributions to low- and middle-income countries.