The Chairman of Parliament’s Health Committee, Dr Nana Ayew Afriyie has dispelled claims that government has been swindled in the deal to procure Russia’s Sputnik-V Covid-19 vaccine at $19 per dose.
According to him, the producers of the vaccine do not deal directly with government, as such, middle men are being used causing an increase in the original price of $10 per dose which is the factory price.
With this in mind, Dr Afriyie argued that concerns being raised about the ‘abnormal’ price is misplaced since government is doing its best to acquire the newly developed vaccine that will save the country and the citizens from the deadly pandemic.
“We have not been swindled as a State. Even though we are in a desperate state to get vaccines, the policy of government which is a very good one is to get business persons to go into the Sputnik V space”.
“Yes, the factory price is US$ 10 but when you get expatriates, and it gets out of the factory, there are a lot of factors that come in including the profit, commission and freight to Ghana. So you don’t expect a vaccine that costs US$ 10 at the factory to be the same price when it arrives in Ghana especially when a middleman is getting it,” he stated.
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Source: myjoy
