Ghana is seeking to take delivery of more than seven million doses of COVID-19 vaccines before the end of 2021, the Ghana Health Service has said. The Director-General of the health management body, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said the receipt of these vaccines will bring to a total, the 20 million doses of the jabs the country has targeted to vaccinate the population.
The set of vaccines to be received include AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson
Speaking on Sunday, November 28, 2021, at the Ministry of Information press briefing, Dr Kuma-Aboagye said it is imperative for the public to avail themselves to take vaccines so Ghana is able to achieve herd immunity against the virus.
“More than 7.4 million doses are supposed to come in between now and probably December. We may even get more than this and that will take us to about 20 million of vaccines that have come into the country before the end of the year. What is left for us is to take it”.
Data given by the Head of the Ghana Health Service revealed that Ghana has so far received 12. 3 million doses of a number of vaccines altogether.
However, only about 7.1 million have been distributed with the remaining 5.2 million doses still in stock.
“Our strategy remains the same. One is to be strategic about where all our facilities are providing vaccination. We are also going around taking the vaccine to the people. We are also doing mobile vaccination where people will go to the lorry park and see a car parked giving the vaccines”, Dr Kuma Aboagye added.
December declared vaccination month
Meanwhile, in a bid to prevent the fourth wave of COVID-19 in Ghana, the government has declared December as a month of vaccination.
Vaccination in December will be targeted at specific groups and venues including nightclubs, beaches, restaurants.
Persons who intend to visit beaches, restaurants, sports stadiums will thus not be allowed entry if not vaccinated.
“We are declaring December as a month of vaccination and it will be launched by the Minister on Tuesday. This mandate will be applicable in January and this mandate will become effective.”
Proposed groups expected to be vaccinated in December include three arms of government, health workers, security personnel, all staff of tertiary and secondary institutions, all commercial drivers and mates, and government workers.
This move comes in the wake of the detection of a new coronavirus variant Omicron in South Africa and the United Kingdom through genome sequencing.
The U.K has already added six countries to its travel red list, following the detection of the Omicron virus. These countries are South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Passengers arriving in England from the above-listed countries will be required to book and pay for a government-approved hotel quarantine facility for 10 days.
Source: Nii Larte Lartey
