COVID-19: Our vaccination plan is on course – Health Minister

The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, has said the country’s COVID-19 vaccination plan is on course.

Government had targeted to vaccinate some 20 million Ghanaians by the end of the year.

Responding to concerns from the Minority in Parliament on the number of people vaccinated thus far against COVID-19 during the 2022 budget debate, Kwaku Agyeman Manu said, the country has the capacity to roll out a successful vaccination drive without wasting vaccines.

“My earlier prediction and projection that we were going to get vaccines adequately in August have yielded fruits, and therefore we have been receiving vaccines from COVAX and other donations from other countries we have bilateral relations with.”

“So I can say that we have the capacity to administer the vaccines, and we don’t anticipate that we shall waste the vaccines that we have received.”

Meanwhile, the Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh insists the government has failed in the quest to vaccinate Ghanaians.

According to him, the country should have been able to vaccinate 17 million Ghanaians by now.

“By this time we should have vaccinated not less than 17 million Ghanaians. Ironically, if you refer to the 2022 budget, we have vaccinated only 2.5 million Ghanaians.”

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) had earlier expressed its unhappiness with the low patronage of the COVID-19 vaccination program.

According to GHS, only five million persons have so far received at least a single jab.

Speaking to Citi News, the manager of the expanded program on immunization, Dr. Kwame Amponsah-Achiano, lamented that Ghanaians are still sceptical about getting vaccinated due to misinformation.

“As of 21st, we had almost 5 million doses given out. Some have received 1, others 2. When we count the doses individually, we are looking at 4.7. Out of this number, only 1.2 million are fully vaccinated.”

“Considering our track record, we have done more campaigning on COVID-19 vaccines than we have in the past. Even with those, we were able to inoculate more than 6 million doses within 10 days.”