CDD's Dr Asiedu Sarpong has explained why Russia refused to directly engage Ghana in the procurement of Sputnik V vaccines.
Dr Asiedu Sarpong said there is geopolitics ongoing and Russia is selling to areas where they have a stake.
He explained that this has forced the US President to make a statement that they will soon respond.
Dr Sarpong said countries like Brazil, Guinea and the Czech Republic have directly engaged with Russia. He said the reason for Ghana not being able to deal with Russian authorities directly is because we were late.
He has also dismissed a statement from the Ministry of Health that H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum contacted Ghana first.
According to him, the response from the Sheikh shows that a Minister of State contacted him first as a middleman for the procurement of the Sputnik V vaccines.
Ministry of Health response
The Ministry of Health has in a statement disclosed why they decided to procure 300,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines at $19 per dose from H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum.
According to the Ministry, they have since the beginning of the year made efforts to procure Sputnik V vaccines directly by engaging Russian authorities but the effort yielded no result.
This has forced the Ministry to accept a negotiated offer from the private office of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum.
The Ministry is under pressure to explain why it has placed an order for the vaccines at $19 per dose when it was being sold at $10 on the market following a report by a Norwegian news outlet, VG.
According to the newspaper, its investigation has revealed that Ghana and other countries have also been dealing with middlemen with a shady reputation to procure the vaccine doses, a practice the WHO has advised against.
Justifying its actions in a press statement issued on Thursday, June 10, 2021, the Ministry of Health said the $10 price per dose is merely the ex-factory price, which is only obtained from "government-to-government arrangements".
The statement issued under the hand of the Chief Director at the Ministry, Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari, further explained that his outfit was unable to obtain direct supplies from the Russian government, hence officials resorted to the open market.
According to the statement, the initial price quoted per dose was $25 including land transportation, shipment, insurance, handling and special storage charges, but this was negotiated downwards to $19.
“Several other individuals and Ghanaian companies, who have given the MoH indications of capacity to supply Sputnik V vaccine, have been engaged accordingly, but, so far, without any results. The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) has been duly engaged in these processes,†the statement said.
With a recent study suggesting that Ghana faces a very high possibility of a third wave of the virus within weeks, the country's public health officials have been racing to obtain enough vaccines to boost vaccination.