Coronavirus vaccines: I came in the normal way to see the reality on the ground - Former Speaker

Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, the immediate past Speaker of Parliament, has applauded the professionalism that is characterizing the ongoing vaccination process for the novel Coronavirus pandemic in the country.

He said that he decided to appear at the vaccination center at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge Hospital) the "normal way," just to see for himself, how the process was going on.

And in his confession, he was truly impressed with the things he saw and how they were going.

"It is well organized - very very well organized. In fact, I wanted to come in the normal way to see the reality on the ground for myself. We just came in, and you could see that people are orderly in the line, the nurses and other officials know exactly what to do, and they lead you on, they sanitize you again for the process and then you go through the exercise without any qualms or difficulty. I appreciate the whole thing," he said.

After taking his jab, the former Speaker shared his experience with a cross-section of the media, calling on all persons given the chance to go in and be vaccinated, damning any superstitions.

"No, it's not painful. It's like any other easy jab. It's nothing wonderful and it's a matter of scientific development. And I will plead will all others who are skeptical, kindly let us do the right thing and let us stop worrying over all manner of things.

"You know in this country, superstition, if you follow superstition to a certain degree, you won't go to even the hospital when you are sick. Everything, you'll give it all manner of interpretations... so let us leave some of these things behind, including the fact that some are bringing all kinds of politics into it. The president himself has done it and he really has shown a good way," he admonished.

Ghana became the first country in the world to receive the first 600,000 doses of the vaccines from the COVAX facility on Wednesday, February 24, 2021.

As part of leadership and as a way of demystifying the myths surrounding the vaccines, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his wife, the Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia, and his wife, all took the vaccines on live TV, being the first in the country to do so.