WHO to visit Mampong Centre for Plant Medicine Research over local covid-19 vaccine

Some executives of the World Health Organisation (WHO) are expected to visit Mampong Centre for Plant Medicine Research to check the progress of the ‘Nibima’ Clinical trial.

Nibima is a plant that is going under series of clinical trials to ascertain its efficacy for COVID-19 treatment.

The acting Public Relations Officer, at the centre, Eunice Ama Oppong, disclosed this in an interview with Adom News‘ Kwame Kulenu.

“With the ‘nibima’ plant, a team from World Organisation (WHO) will be visiting our office at Mampong to find out where you’ve gotten with the research so we are hoping that very soon, good news will come out from Mampong,” she said.

She said they are still on course in their quest to find a cure for COVID-19 despite several restrictions on COVID-19 protocols.

“Since the covid-19 outbreak, we at Mampong have done a lot of research and we are still going on with it and through that, we’ve come out with drugs which serve as immune boosters so Ghanaians should be rest assured that, we will keep delivering on our mandate.

“We have not given up on our commitment to getting a local vaccine for COVID-19. As I’m speaking to you now, there is still a clinical trial ongoing for the Nibima plant and we are still praying and hoping for a good outcome,” she added.

Madam Oppong added that though most of the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, it does not mean Ghana is out from the virus so they will not give up on the effort they are making to get a local vaccine for the pandemic.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Ghana has been pushing to get its own locally manufactured vaccine.

President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2021 announced the establishment of the institute which would supervise the domestic production of Covid-19 and other vaccines, led by the private sector and the business community.

In quest of achieving that President Akufo-Addo has committed a seed fund of $25 million dollars for the local production of COVID-19 vaccines.

President Akufo-Addo, delivering the 2022 State of the Nation Address (SONA), indicated the first phase of the local commercial vaccine production will commence in January 2024.

In view of this, a bill will shortly be sent to parliament for support and approval for the establishment of the National Vaccine Institute.