Ghana Gets World’s First Free Covax Vaccine From India

West African nation Ghana became the first country to receive the first batch of doses coronavirus vaccines from Covax in India.

Covax is a global scheme launched last April to distribute two billion COVID vaccines for free among poorer countries.

"The next phase in the fight against this disease can begin — the ramping up of the largest immunisation campaign in history," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore declared in a statement.

"At last!" World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, whose organisation also backs the Covax initiative, said in a tweet. A day to celebrate, but it's just the first step," he added.

The 600,000 doses delivered to Ghana are the Oxford/AstraZeneca formula, made under license by the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India.