EPI blames second doses of vaccine delay on flight cancellation

Programmes Manager of the Extended Programme on Immunization (EPI), Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Akyianu, has said that there is a delay in the arrival of second doses of vaccines because of flight cancellation.

According to the Programmes Manager, the vaccines were to be delivered in the country in the beginning of this month. However, due to the cancellation in the flight, Ghanaians should expect the vaccines by the end of this week.

He made this known in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show when he said: “We had small challenges with transportation so we are yet to expect the vaccines by close of this week. The vaccines are coming from abroad so it has to do with flight issues; we have had some issues with flight. We now have the assurance that even though one flight was cancelled, we now have a flight that is transporting the vaccines”.

Dr.Amponsa-Akyianu’s comment come barely few weeks after he assured Ghanaians that the country is set to receive additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in May.

In an earlier interview on the same show, the Programmes Manager explained that his outfit has documentation that indicates that the country will receive its allocated vaccines.

Meanwhile, Dr. Amponsa-Akyianu has shared that after the country receives the next batch of COVID-19 vaccines, the EPI’s immediate concern will be those who received the first dose in the first week of March.

Ghana, after receiving 600,000 vaccines from the COVAX Facility, also received 50,000 vaccines from the Government of India and over 300,000 from South African Telecommunications group, MTN.

Currently, over 800,000 people have been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccines. The country is awaiting additional vaccines to administer the second doses.

Ghanaians who took the first shots of the vaccines in March are expected to receive second shots of the vaccines to complete vaccination. However, delays in rolling out the second phase is gradually raising fears.

However, the Minister of Health, Hon. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu has said that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is putting in all efforts to ensure that the country gets the second dose of the coronavirus vaccines.