WHO salutes Akufo-Addo for taking coronavirus jab

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has lauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for showing leadership by taking a jab of the Coronavirus vaccine.

He said the example set by the President of Ghana was critical towards inspiring confidence in the vaccine.

In a tweet, Dr. Tedros wrote: "I salute the example set by President Akufo-Addo in receiving the first COVID-19 vaccination through the COVAX Facility.

"Your leadership is key to promoting confidence in this life-saving tool in Ghana and across Africa," he stated.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Vice, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, and their spouses, Monday took shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine at the 37 Military Hospital and Police Hospital respectively in Accra.

It is aimed at demystifying public apprehension about the Coronavirus vaccine and enhance public confidence.

They were issued with vaccination cards as a shred of evidence that they had been vaccinated.

The country will commence a mass vaccination from Tuesday, March 2, 2021, to limit the spread of the Coronavirus disease.

The population has been segmented geographically and that people in COVID-19 hotspots areas, including the Greater Accra Metropolitan area, Awutu Senya East and West, Greater Kumasi Metropolitan area, and Obuasi Municipal areas would be the first to be vaccinated.

Forty-three (43) metropolitan, municipal, and districts- 25 in the Greater Accra Region, 16 in the Ashanti, and two in the Central regions regarded as the epicentres will first be vaccinated against the virus.

People with underlying health conditions, those who are 60 years and above, frontline healthcare workers, frontline security personnel, members of the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary would be the first to receive shots of the vaccines.

The government on Wednesday, February 24, 2021, received 600,000 Covishield AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines produced by the Serum Institute of India under the Global Access Facility (COVAX Facility).

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has, so far, approved Covishield AstraZeneca vaccines and Sputnik-V vaccines from Russia for mass immunisation in Ghana.

The vaccines would be administered in three phases, with each person expected to take two doses to help create head immunity for the population.

It is estimated that 20 million Ghanaians would be vaccinated across the country.

The GHS has trained over 12,500 vaccinators, 2,000 supervisors, and 37,413 volunteers.

Ghana is expected to receive 12.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX Facility, free of charge.

However, government is expected to spend about $38 million to procure vaccines through bilateral and multilateral relations.

The government is making frantic efforts to secure more vaccines to cover the entire population through bilateral and multilateral agencies.