GHS, NCCE to partner celebrities, others in Coronavirus vaccination campaign

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has disclosed that in collaboration with the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and the Ministry of Information, it will carry out an education campaign on the COVID-19 vaccination to sensitize Ghanaians on the need to take the vaccine.

The Director of Health Promotion at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. DaCosta Aboagye in an interview with Sefa Danquah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show revealed that the institution will use notable members of the society, including celebrities to drive the campaign.

“The Ministry of Information, Ghana Health Service and NCCE will roll out a Special campaign to support the vaccination exercise. We may use some celebrities, public officials, Assembly Men, chiefs, MMDAs and DCEs to make sure that everyone is part of the vaccination exercise to attain the herd immunity”, he told Sefa Danquah.

He noted that even before this campaign will be rolled out, authorities have ensured that the President and other public figures will be among the first persons to take the vaccine as a way of “building confidence’ among the populace.

Dr. Dacosta in his interview with Sefa Danquah reiterated that the vaccines are safe contrary to the notion that it is unsafe.

“The vaccines don’t cause infertilities, neither does it kill. The FDA in Ghana are rated very high by international organizations like WHO. They have tried and tested the vaccines and have assured us that it is safe. The vaccine is here to serve as an additional preventive measure to reduce the spread of the disease”, he added.

Some medical experts have opined that Ghana has not done enough to convince its citizens on the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.

Ghana, under the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative, received 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India (Covishield).

The country is targeting a herd immunity of its population as it expects to vaccinate some twenty-million persons from the first week of March.

However, even before the rollout of the vaccines, some Ghanaians on social media have expressed skepticism around the COVID-19 vaccines, questioning the safety and efficacy of these vaccines.