President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced that Ghana will take delivery of 350,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX facility on Tuesday, May 4, 2021.

This, according to the President, forms part of moves to vaccinate Ghana’s entire adult population by the end of the year.

He was addressing a mini May Day celebration at the premises of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Accra last Saturday.

“Indeed, we are receiving 350,000 more Astrazenca vaccines from the COVAX facility on Tuesday in addition to the first consignment of the 600,000 vaccines we received on the 24th of February 2021,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo also disclosed that the government will, by mid-May, procure some 1.3 million doses of Sputnik V vaccines from Russia.

“By 15th May, Government will also procure some 1.3 million Sputnik V vaccines. We are determined to vaccinate 20 million Ghanaians [i.e. the entire adult population] by the end of this year, and we remain on course to achieve this goal.”

The government has faced challenges in procuring additional vaccines to meet the initial eight-week window given to persons who received the first jab, to get their second dose.

Health authorities recently issued a communiqué postponing the second phase of vaccination exercise for persons who have taken the first jab.

So far, more than 800.000 people have received their first jabs of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, with the Greater Accra Region having the highest number of inoculated persons.

Government must speed up procurement of second batch of vaccines – Minority
The Minority in Parliament has asked the government to expedite the procurement of the second batch of COVID-19 vaccines for Ghanaians.

According to the group, the government has made very little attempt in securing the vaccines despite the budgetary allocation made for them.

Addressing the media, Ranking Member on the Health Committee in Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said Ghanaians stand to lose their partial immunity against the disease with the delay in the second vaccination of the populace.

“We would like to call on the government to expedite the action on vaccines as earlier promised. Ghanaians were informed that the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines will provide a high level of protection for about eight weeks by which time another consignment would have arrived to ensure the administering of second jabs for those who had received their first jab.”

“Today is the 2nd of May and as we speak, not an additional dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine has arrived, putting Ghanaians who have already received the first jab at risk of losing the partial immunity acquired through vaccination.”