Mandatory Covid-19 vaccination is likely to be implemented soon – Ministry of Health
A mandatory vaccination could be triggered by the Health Ministry if the country’s vaccination rate does not show signs of improvement.
This action according to the Ministry will be backed by the Public Health Act.
Chief Director of the Ministry, Kwabena Boadu Oku Afari, said “the Minister for Health has the power to do that through the executive instrument and that will have the legal backing and when that happens, it can be rolled out throughout the country.”
As it stands now, only 2.8 million Ghanaians have fully taken their Covid-19 jab, while 6.6 million people have received at one dose.
Ghana has recorded 148,079 cases of the virus with 1,313 deaths.
An unfortunate rise in the cases within the last 30 days as Omicron variant was detected has seen Ghana’s active cases rise to 13,576. Ghana had only 2,877 cases on December 18, 2022.
To get citizens to see the need to get inoculated, the government declared the final month of 2021 as the month of vaccination, amid growing concerns of vaccine hesitancy among Ghana’s population.
This has been occasioned by stringent vaccine mandates like the directive to all persons to be vaccinated on arrival at the Kotoka International Airport before they can be permitted to enter the country.
Initially, the government wanted to innoculate 20 million Ghanaians before the end of 2021 but has shifted this target to the end of the first quarter of 2022.
Some suggestions that vaccinations could be made mandatory prompting opposition from some Ghanaians such as Christian group, Advocates for Christ Ghana.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
