Ghana Health Services commences rollout of AstraZeneca vaccines today
On 2 March 2021, a nurse prepares to administer a dose of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine at Accra's Ridge Hospital, as Ghana rolls out its national COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Health workers, seniors and people with underlying conditions are prioritized for vaccination. As the global rollout of COVAX vaccines accelerates, the first COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in the African Region using COVAX doses began 1 March 2021 in Ghana and Côte D'Ivoire. These campaigns are the among the first to use doses provided by COVAX. This is an historic step towards ensuring equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide. COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and WHO working in partnership with developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers, UNICEF, the World Bank, and others. It is the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries.
The rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine is scheduled to continue today, September 24, commencing with the Astrazeneca vaccine jabs.
This time around, the exercise is open to the general public, unlike the previous one which was targeted at some particular people.
According to the Ghana Health Service Statement “Persons, 18 years or older who have never received a vaccine or have received only one dose of AstraZeneca are to participate in this exercise,”
Persons who will be turning out to receive the vaccines are to report to the vaccination centres with a valid photo ID card for first-timers and for those who have already received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccines, they are to report with the Covid-19 Vaccination Card.
No update was given on the Moderna vaccine as it was expected to be part of the rollout by the Ghana Health Service.
It will be recalled that Ghana commenced the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination in March 2021 beginning with AstraZeneca.
A total number of 1,643,172 vaccine doses had been administered in Ghana, with some persons only receiving the first doses as of September 23, 2021.
Currently, 777,750 persons have been fully vaccinated, which is way short of the government’s target of 20 million by the end of 2021. Ghana has however secured over 3.2 million vaccines, some of which are yet to be administered.
There are Astrazeca vaccines also available, and Ghana has 1.2 million Moderna vaccines and over 500,000 doses of Johnson and Johnson vaccines in waiting. The United States government has also pledged to donate 1.3 million Pfizer vaccines to Ghana.
Cumulatively, Ghana has recorded 126,146 cases of the virus with 1,139 deaths. Active cases have slowly been dropping with the 4,358 recorded last week reducing to 4,015.
Read the full statement by the Ghana Health Service below.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
