President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced that the deployment of the second dose of Covid-19 vaccines will take place across the designated vaccination centres from Wednesday, May 19 to Wednesday, May 26.
He made the disclosure yesterday in a recorded televised address to the nation on Ghana’s enhanced response to the coronavirus pandemic.
He recalled that the first phase involved vaccinating a segment of the population, made up of health workers, persons with co-morbidities, persons above the age of sixty, physically challenged persons, journalists, frontline security personnel and a cross section of persons in the three arms of government.
“The second phase involves vaccinating all other health workers across the country. Nearly a million people have now received the first dose of the vaccine,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Shortage of vaccines
He explained that Ghana could not secure as many vaccines as it wanted as a result of international vaccine politics and the unpredictability of the supply chain, coupled with the third wave of infections in some countries in Europe and Asia.
“In spite of these obstacles, the target is to vaccinate some twenty million Ghanaians, i.e., the entire adult population of Ghana, by the end of the year,” he assured.
The President mentioned that in the past few days, government has, through COVAX, received an additional 350,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines which will be added to existing stock to provide the second jab for the 360,000 persons in the 43 districts in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Central regions.
He added that Ghana is expecting an additional 300,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines, which have already been approved by the Food & Drugs Authority.
Travels
President Akufo-Addo again cautioned travellers to be mindful of the associated risks of travel to and from countries where the virus is causing havoc, especially in Asia and South America.
He said even though Kotoka International Airport recorded significant increases in the numbers of passengers who tested positive for COVID-19 some few weeks ago, as a result of the third wave in these high risk countries, this has declined considerably.
“To prevent fake COVID-19 PCR certificates being used to enter our country, Government, through the Ministry of Health, has begun the process of digitising PCR test results to ensure ease of verification.
“The technology platform being used at KIA is based on standards set by the Africa Trust Travel and ECOWAS Biomars. All travellers arriving in Ghana must have test results or certificates bearing the trusted travel or biomars codes to be acceptable at KIA,” he said.
Fight not over
He said the fight against the virus is not over, and urged Ghanaians to still abide by the safety protocols.
He acknowledged the significant investments made in ensuring compliance with the safety protocols that had enabled the reopening of schools at all levels.
“… and I want to thank parents, teachers and students for making them work. We have also put in place the necessary protocols that have allowed us to return to churches, mosques, workplaces, markets, stadia, and to travel.
