NVI Boss Explains Why Ghana's Vaccine Industry Needs GH¢13m Training Investment

Ghana's National Vaccine Institute has come under scrutiny for spending GH¢13 million on training, workshops and conferences in 2025, but its Chief Executive Officer Dr. Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey argues the investment is essential to building a functional domestic vaccine industry from the ground up.

The defence comes after the Public Accounts Committee raised concerns following an Auditor-General report showing the Institute slipped from a GH¢36 million profit into a GH¢21 million loss within the financial year. Appearing before the Committee, Dr Sodzi-Tettey explained that the significant expenditure reflects the reality of developing Ghana's vaccine ecosystem—a process requiring sustained investment in human capacity across research, manufacturing and regulation.

Building Capacity Across the Vaccine Value Chain

The Institute's mandate extends far beyond conventional classroom training. Dr Sodzi-Tettey outlined how the GH¢13 million covers work with university researchers, vaccine manufacturers needing production upgrades, and regulatory bodies requiring specialised knowledge to oversee local vaccine development. Each group requires tailored support to contribute meaningfully to Ghana's vaccine ecosystem.

The CEO highlighted vaccine manufacturing as Ghana's weakest link. To illustrate the skills gap, he pointed to the production of snake venom antiserum—a process requiring Indian experts to perform specific tests and international specialists to conduct required animal studies. This dependency on foreign expertise underscores why local capacity building cannot be rushed or under-resourced.

Dr Sodzi-Tettey acknowledged that Ghana has young scientists with potential, but formal education alone cannot equip them for the highly specialised demands of vaccine production. Continuous, targeted training and hands-on development are non-negotiable investments.

Why It Matters for Ghana

Vaccine manufacturing capacity represents strategic sovereignty in healthcare. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how dependent African nations became on imported vaccines when global supply chains fractured. Ghana's investment in the National Vaccine Institute reflects a commitment to reducing that vulnerability and creating jobs in a high-tech sector.

Building this capacity is capital-intensive and lengthy. Unlike many industries, vaccine manufacturing cannot be rapidly scaled with shortcuts. The technical facilities, equipment and human expertise required do not exist locally yet—they must be developed methodically. The Institute's spending, whilst substantial, reflects the reality that premature cost-cutting could undermine the entire project.

For ordinary Ghanaians, the long-term payoff is significant: vaccines produced locally would be more affordable, more culturally trusted, and would reduce dependence on foreign suppliers for essential medicines. The training investment today creates the foundation for that future independence.

Community Trust and Broader Ecosystem Work

Beyond the technical and scientific side, the Institute also conducts community engagement to assess public attitudes towards locally manufactured vaccines. This is not a frivolous expense. Building confidence in domestically produced vaccines requires genuine dialogue with communities, particularly in a context where some populations may harbour scepticism about local production quality.

The CEO's position is that all these activities—researcher training, manufacturer support, regulator development, community engagement and specialised animal studies—fall legitimately under the Institute's financial categories of training, seminars and conferences. Viewed holistically, the spending supports a complex ecosystem development project rather than isolated administrative costs.

Whether the Public Accounts Committee accepts this rationale will likely influence how the Institute budgets going forward. What remains clear is that Ghana's ambition to produce its own vaccines cannot be achieved cheaply or quickly—it requires sustained, strategic investment in human and institutional capacity.