Speaking at a training workshop for journalists on vaccine communication and advocacy in Accra, Dr Mohammed described vaccination as one of the greatest public health achievements in history, preventing over two million child deaths globally each year.
He said Ghana’s EPI currently provides free immunisation against 16 vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio, measles, tetanus, hepatitis B, and yellow fever.

Dr Mohammed noted that Ghana had recorded major successes such as the elimination of neonatal tetanus in 2011, no reported cases of wild poliovirus since 2008, and no measles-related deaths between 2003 and 2021.

He said vaccines were safe, effective, and essential for protecting communities and promoting national development.
He, however, mentioned challenges such as vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, and over-reliance on development partners for vaccine procurement and logistics.

He urged the media to help counter misinformation and promote public confidence in vaccines.
“Vaccination is not just a health intervention; it is an investment in the nation’s future. Every dose given is a life protected and a future secured,” Dr Mohammed said.

Dr. Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey, Chief Executive Officer of National Vaccine Institute (NVI), said Ghana was steadily advancing toward vaccine self-sufficiency through strengthened research, innovation, and manufacturing capacity.

He said the NVI, established under the National Vaccine Institute Act, 2023 (Act 1097), was mandated to coordinate and supervise vaccine research, development, and production in Ghana.
He said the Institute’s vision was to build a self-sufficient, resilient, and innovative vaccine ecosystem founded on integrity, innovation, accountability, and collaboration.

He highlighted ongoing efforts to equip research laboratories and strengthen regulation, including the procurement of equipment valued at 978,334 US dollars through World Bank support, and laboratory supplies worth 766,879 euros under the PharmaVax Programme (EU/BMZ/GIZ) for six institutions, including the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR).

Dr. Sodzi-Tettey added that Ghana had received 1.7 million euros in grants to foster innovation in vaccine and pharmaceutical manufacturing, while partnerships with institutions such as PharmaVax and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) were being formalised to advance research and training.
He mentioned challenges such as delays in securing financial clearance for the recruitment of skilled professionals, and the need to reorient local manufacturers for broader market access in Africa.

The next steps, he said, include finalising recommendations on advance purchase commitments to Cabinet, launching a Biomanufacturing Training Consortium, and building a strong investment case for high-impact research and human capacity development.
He believed NVI-journos partnership would help domesticate and bring the issues on vaccines closer to the communities for acceptance and necessary buy-ins.

Dr Kwadwo Asammoah Kusi, Department of Immunology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, said modern vaccine testing was one of the most carefully regulated scientific processes that had become benchmarks for vaccine manufacturing.

He highlighted how early discoveries of microorganisms, historic epidemics, and modern vaccine development shaped global disease control and informed strict ethical regulations governing today’s human research.
He recalled that human populations throughout history were shaped significantly by epidemics, from zoonotic diseases affecting early human groups in Africa to major outbreaks such as the Black Death, which killed a third of Europe’s population.

“Disease has been as powerful a force as war and politics,” Dr Kusi said, noting that up to 90 per cent of indigenous populations in the Americas perished from infections introduced during European colonisation.
He traced early infection control efforts, citing the 1854 cholera outbreak in London, where Dr. John Snow linked contaminated water to the disease.

“Even though Snow did not identify the bacteria, he demonstrated how infections spread, prompting major reforms in sanitation,” he said.
This discovery strengthened the connection between environmental hygiene and disease prevention.
On the concept of vaccination, he described vaccines as “unique medical tools administered to healthy people to prevent disease, offering long-term or lifelong protection.”

Dr Kusi highlighted the critical global impact of vaccines, particularly in controlling epidemics like HIV/AIDS — which has caused over 44 million deaths—and COVID-19, which has taken more than seven million lives worldwide.

He emphasized that vaccine development followed rigorous stages of testing, accompanied by ethical safeguards, shaped by past abuses in human research.
He referenced historical violations including Nazi medical experiments, the Tuskegee syphilis study, and the thalidomide tragedy, which led to the Nuremberg Code (1946), the Declaration of Helsinki (1964), and subsequent U.S. legislation strengthening human subject protection.

“These events created today’s strict framework for informed consent, oversight, and safety,” he noted.