Ghana becomes the first African country to receive the Covax vaccine scheme

Ghana becomes the first country to receive a delivery of coronavirus doses from the global effort to boost vaccine access after a plane landed Wednesday with 600,000 AstraZeneca shots.

The immunization help arrives days after President Biden pledged $4 billion to the multilateral pact known as Covax, breaking with the Trump administration’s shunning of the World Health Organization-backed mission.

The West African country of 31 million was selected as the first recipient after sending a rollout plan to Covax proving its health-care teams and cold chain equipment were ready to support a quick distribution.

Others in the region are expected to soon receive similar Covax shipments.