World Bank to finance Ghana's COVID-19 vaccine rollout: official

ACCRA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank is ready to finance Ghana's further COVID-19 vaccine rollout, the bank's country director for Ghana Pierre Laporte said here Monday.

A health worker holds up empty Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine vials at the Ridge Hospital in Accra, Ghana on March 2, 2021. (File photo: AFP)

Briefing the media on the stage of the bank's support to the West African country to overcome the pandemic, Laporte said the bank had already approved 130 million US dollars to support the vaccine program.

He said the bank would like to provide vaccines for 13 million Ghanaians, which will boost the country's efforts to combat the pandemic and enhance its economic recovery.

He also stressed the availability of the vaccines to Ghanaians still depends on the Ghanaian government's ability to secure the vaccines from international sources.

"The sooner the vaccines are made available, the better, but that depends entirely on how fast the government can source the vaccines. On our part we have put the money on the table," added the World Bank official.