Avail yourselves for vaccination when COVID-19 vaccines arrive – Agyeman-Manu

Health Minister-designate, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has told Ghanaians to make themselves available for vaccination against the coronavirus infection when the vaccines arrive into the country.

He said the only way to reduce the rate of infection to the lowest level is through vaccination hence, every individual in the country should accept immunisation.

Speaking at a public engagement on the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out plan in Ghana in Accra on Friday, February 19, the Dormaa Central lawmaker said Ghana has success stories on vaccinations hence, the public should not entertain any fear over the impending COVID-19 vaccination.

“Luckily,” he said, “in Ghana, we have success stories to tell with vaccines in children. Measles, polio, tetanus, we have used vaccines to try to prevent our kids from getting them.

‘So now, vaccines shouldn’t be a new thing for us. The only new thing we are going to add on to the battle that we have fought since last year is the vaccines.

“If we are able to go round to the country and vaccinate everybody we believe our problem with Covid-19 will begin to go down,” he said.

COVID-19 vaccines are expected to arrive into the country by March 2021.

In his Update No 23 on ‘Measures taken to combat spread of coronavirus’ President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said “Fellow Ghanaians, Update No. 21, I indicated that Ghana is set to procure her first consignment of the COVID vaccines within the first half of this year. Since then, a lot of work has been done towards the realization of this.

“Our aim is to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of twenty million people. Through bilateral and multilateral means, we are hopeful that, by the end of June, a total of seventeen million, six hundred thousand (17.6 million) vaccine doses would have been procured for the Ghanaian people.

“The earliest vaccine will be in the country by March. The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) will use its established processes for granting emergency-use-authorisation for each vaccine in Ghana.

“As President of the Republic, I assure you that only vaccines that have been evaluated and declared as safe-for-use in Ghana will be administered.”