By the end of May, Ghana will have received an additional two million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility.
This would help the government reach its goal of vaccinating about 20 million Ghanaians by boosting the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program.
Ghana has received over 700,000 COVID-19 vaccines so far for its vaccination campaign.
Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, made the announcement on Monday at the Peduase Lodge in the Eastern Region during a COVID-19 Update.
He claimed that the government was working feverishly to secure cold chain equipment capable of storing vaccines at subzero temperatures.
Since the COVID-19 mass vaccination program began on March 2, 2021, he said the Service has vaccinated 300,000 people.
After receiving the vaccines, 129 people reported experiencing dizziness, pains at the injection site, and a mild fever.
Health care workers, people with underlying health conditions, essential service providers, and those aged 60 and up, as well as members of the security agencies, Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary branches of government, were among those who received vaccine doses from AstraZeneca.
The GHS targeted 570,000 people in the first phase of vaccination, but within a week, the number of people vaccinated and registered on the electronic database system had exceeded the 70% threshold, according to Dr Kuma-Aboagye.
He praised the media for increasing vaccine awareness, which he said encouraged Ghanaians to get the vaccine on their own volition.
Some of the vaccines were delivered to the various health centers via the Zipline drone delivery service, according to Dr. Kuma-Aboagye.
The GHS chief announced that a locally developed App would be released soon to aid in the appointment and registration of people onto the electronic database system, which would help speed up the vaccination program.
This year’s mass vaccination campaign will last until the end of October.
Although the government hopes to vaccinate the entire population, only about 20 million Ghanaians are expected to be vaccinated.
On Wednesday, February 24, 2021, the government of Ghana received its first batch of Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India under the Global Access (COVAX Facility).
Read Also: App to be developed to aid COVID-19 vaccine rollout – GHS
SOURCE: ATLFMNEWSONLINE
