Ghana Health Service vaccinates over 30,000 people so far - Dr. Amponsa-Achiano

Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, Programme Manager for the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) of the Ghana Health Service has stated that 30,500 Ghanaians have so far been vaccinated against the coronavirus in the country as of March 3, 2021.

“Out of this, about 16,990 of them are males while 13,450 are females,” he said.

Dr. Amponsa-Achieno made this known to the media on the sidelines of the National Delegates Congress of Community Health Nurses, Ghana (CHNG), in Accra on Thursday, March 4, 2021, reports citinewsroom.com.

The three-day delegates congress which was on the theme, “Harnessing Community Nurses’ Prospects, Fulcrum to Attain Preventive Health as a Nation”, and organized by the CHNG and the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, was to elect substantive leaders to run the affairs of the community health nurses.

Speaking as a guest speaker at the event, Dr. Amponsa-Achiano was elated about the turnout for the vaccination exercise, stressing that it has so far been impressive and commended Ghanaians for coming out in their numbers to patronize the vaccines.

“Initially, because of the hesitancy and conspiracy theories, we were a bit skeptical and cautiously hopeful, but the turnout has been impressive,” he said.

However, he pegged the success of the high turnout for the vaccination to the sensitization exercise undertaken by the GHS prior to the enrolment of the exercise.

Meanwhile, Dr. Amponsa-Achiano indicated that the GHS was considering extending the duration of the exercise from seven to 14 days due to some challenges including tablet malfunctions and overcrowding witnessed in some districts and regions.

“Initially, we hope to complete the first phase within 7-days but due to some challenges witnessed in some districts and regions, we intend to extend the duration by seven more days,” he explained.

Also, about 11,500 frontline health workers had also been vaccinated so far, he said.

Earlier today, Ghana took stock of 50,000 more doses of the coronavirus vaccines from India, in fulfilment of a promise made by the India High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr. Sugandh Rajaram, on Monday, March 1, 2021, at a 'Mask up a Child' campaign in Accra.

In total, Ghana has received 650,000 doses of vaccines for the coronavirus fight. The first batch of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines from the COVAX facility arrived in Ghana on February 24, 2021, making it the first country in the world to receive them.