Be proactive in getting vaccines - Government told

Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Dr. Sebastian Ngmenenso Sandaare, has entreated government to take proactive measures to secure vaccines for the country, as he believes that is the only way to protect Ghanaians against the Coronavirus pandemic.

He said this in an interview with TV3’s Miriam Osei Agyeman on the Mid Day news, Friday, April 30.

Dr. Sandaare was speaking on the back of recent reports that the country is registering a new surge in COVID-19 cases at the country’s airport, the Kotoka International Airport(KIA) which the Ghana Health Service(GHS) has advised foreigners to self-isolate for 10 days before being allowed entry.

He said “it shouldn’t just be at the pleasure of the passenger, if that is in the interest of Ghana I support that because we are not in normal times and whatever measures that need to be taken to protect Ghanaians, we must take that, because you can postpone, you can cancel your travels, that you can do later vis-a-vis the bringing of a disease which might be a new variant.

“You know all these, what is happening out there, we could be dealing with a variant that we do not know, which if permitted to come to Ghana might be different from what we are already dealing with”.

When asked if government should ban travellers from high-risk COVID-19 countries like India from entering Ghana, he said “it’s part of the measures, for me, like Dr. Annan said, ensuring that those coming in are not just alone but they are monitored to ensure that repeated tests are done until they are cleared, that is fine, but if that is not enough there is nothing wrong banning those who pose a threat to Ghana from coming in.

“Just to add that, you see these measures are not enough, what we are calling for, are measures by the government to ensure that Ghanaians are vaccinated. These measures are part of the usual, ordinary measures that we put in place, without us being vaccinated, these measures are not enough to protect us from getting infected, what we know is safe for this country is to get vaccinated, for us to get to that herd immunity where we are all safe”.

Dr. Sandaare pointed out that he supports the measures government is putting in place to curtail the new cases entering the country but he would rather opt “for government taking proactive measures to get vaccines for the people of Ghana”.