Vaccine shortage: No deaths recorded from the recent spike in Measles – Health Minister

Minister for Health Kwaku Agyeman Manu has said efforts are underway to secure adequate vaccines for the country.

This comes on the back of recent reports on the shortage of vaccines in the country.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, on Tuesday, 7 March 2023, the Health Minister said: “Permit me to quote from a World Health Organisation (WHO) recent publication on the subject that puts the challenge we are dealing with into perspective: 'Ghana’s Ministry of Health has been making efforts to ensure we secure adequate stocks of vaccines despite this global challenge'.”

He revealed that: “We have made all necessary efforts to ensure that despite these challenges, we secure adequate stocks within the next few weeks.”

The Minister also refuted claims that there have been recorded deaths amongst children due to measles as a result of the shortage of vaccines in the country.

“It is important to correct the erroneous impression that there have been deaths from Measles in Ghana recently. For the avoidance of doubt, there have been no deaths from the recently recorded spike in Measles cases.”

The Minister stressed: “Indeed there have been no deaths since 2003 though we have recorded cases annually.”

According to the Health Minister, despite the shortage of vaccines in the country, Ghana still holds an unbeatable record of being one of the best when it comes to immunisation performance.

“Finally, despite this challenge, Ghana’s immunisation performance coverage remains among the best in the world. In 2021 we recorded 95% coverage,” the Health Minister indicated.

He assured Ghanaians of efforts by his Ministry to ensuring that Ghana does not veer off track with regard to immunisation.

“Working with UNICEF, we are fast-tracking the processes and it is expected that the vaccines would be supplied in the next few weeks, all things being equal. The Ministry of Health will ensure that we stay on track with our immunisation record and quickly overcome these bottlenecks,” the Health Minister stated.