COVID-19 vaccines are being dispatched from the Kumasi metropolis to adjoining districts in the Ashanti Region that have exhausted their consignments in the ongoing vaccination exercise.
This is an alternative measure to ensure available vaccines in the metropolis do not get out of date.
This, according to health authorities, has become necessary due to the low patronage that has greeted the exercise at major vaccination centres in the metropolis.
Kumasi Metropolis Health Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Akosua Gyimah Omari-Sasu said efforts are being intensified to get people to take the jabs.
“There are a number of vaccines in Kumasi, so we are liaising with other districts that have not used most of their vaccines that are expiring in November, so they are utilized. There are other ones that are expiring in December. We have a lot of vaccines available, so people should come around, so they will be vaccinated. It is safe and effective.”
Meanwhile, some residents who are turning up to vaccinate want authorities to address issues of delays at the various centres.
“They said, they are going to start at 8 am, and it’s now 9 am. My worry is that I sought permission from work, and I am already running late.”
“It’s been more than 30 minutes and the health personnel is not here. I am the driver, and I am supposed to take someone to work. The delay can get me fired”, another person lamented.
Health officials in the Ashanti Region are worried there could be a surge in the region’s Covid-19 cases, with the festive season approaching, as many residents have failed to get vaccinated.
Vaccination centres that used to have over 700 people coming for their shots in a day now struggle to get less than a hundred residents to take their jabs.
Already, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) is unhappy with the low patronage of the free COVID-19 vaccination program.
Despite the government’s plan to vaccinate twenty million Ghanaians before the end of the year, only five million have so far received at least a single jab.
Out of this number, 1.2 million can be classified as fully vaccinated.
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 November, 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.”
He noted that health professionals can vaccinate about 2 million people a week, “only that, most people are reluctant to get vaccinated due to misinformation and fear.”
The government of Ghana has so far received over five million doses of vaccines to aid in the ongoing vaccination against COVID-19 in Ghana.
Over 2.1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to 1.3 million Ghanaians.
The government has committed to vaccinating 20 million Ghanaians by the end of 2021.
