On Thursday, Harris met separately with Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, delivering brief public remarks alongside each leader ahead of a series of closed-door meetings.
In her meeting with Akufo-Addo, Harris emphasized the United States’ and Ghana’s “commitment to democracy,” saying the two countries “share a view that all people must have a voice in their future, that our democracies are stronger when everyone participates and weaker when anyone is left out.”
“We also share a commitment to global health,” Harris continued. “None of us have been immune from the ravages of the pandemic. We recognize our shared responsibility to collaborate, to share resources to not only continue to address the effects of COVID-19, but to prepare for the next pandemics.”
As part of the U.S. commitment to COVAX, the Biden administration has sent nearly 1.2 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine to Ghana; Harris said the administration will send an additional 1.3 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to the country in the coming weeks.
“We’re grateful for the support that the United States government has given us in trying to deal with the virus, the COVAX facility, which America has been very strongly participant, and the support that we’ve had through the donation of 1.2 million doses of the Moderna and the promise you’ve made that more is on the way,” Akufo-Addo said to Harris, adding that Ghana aims to vaccinate 20 million people — nearly two-thirds of its total population — by the end of the year.
Here is the video U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris meeting with Nana Addo at the White House