Coronavirus vaccine: Ghana Health Service to issue second dose reminders via telcos

The Director of Health Promotions at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Aboagye DaCosta, has revealed that the service is working with the various telcos to issue reminders to persons due to take the second COVID-19 jab.

This statement is in line with the roll out of the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccine in Ghana.

Persons who were vaccinated in the roll-out of the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine will start taking the second dose from May 19, 2021, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has said.

This development was after the Ministry of Health (MoH) released the timetable for the second COVID-19 vaccination exercise.

Persons who took the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the first week of the rollout were expected to get the second dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine within an eight-week window period.

Officials of the Ghana Health Service have, however, extended the rollout of the second dose to 12-weeks.

This means persons who took the first dose of the vaccine when it was rolled out on March 2, 2021 will take the 2nd dose in May instead of the initial April ending.

As promised, Ghana received 350,000 doses of the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) coronavirus vaccine earlier in May.

The vaccination for the second dose will commence on 19th May 2021 and persons who took the first jab are encouraged to take the second dose.

In an interview with Kakyire Ofori Ayim, Dr. Aboagye DaCosta noted that although vaccination cards were given, GHS will from tomorrow 18th May 2021 send text messages to remind prospective persons due to take the vaccine.

“Our research at the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that the more the second dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine delays, the better it is for the recipient because the second dose is a booster dose and the window period is between 8 to 12 weeks. We have a database for all persons who took the first jab and so we are working with the telcos to send reminders from 18th May 2021 to persons who are due an eligible to take the second dose”, he added