The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has alleged that the vaccines Ghana took delivery of over the weekend were from Nigeria.

He said it was an act of benevolence following Ghana’s current vaccine challenges but will be replaced.

Ghana took delivery of the first consignment of Measles vaccines, BCG vaccines, and Oral Polio Vaccines on Saturday, March 11 to supplement the acute shortage that rocked the country since October 2022.

Although the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu in Parliament last week said they had paid UNICEF to deliver the vaccines within the next three weeks, the North Tongu lawmaker urged government must be transparent with Ghanaians.

He said the vaccine “consignment came in from Nigeria as a benevolent gesture which the Ghanaian government has promised to replace when it finally puts its house in order. There is absolutely nothing wrong saying THANK YOU to a neighbour who exhibits superior public health policies, better prioritization, and who responds positively and swiftly when you come begging”.

“Ghanaian officials should not be concealing this fact and therefore appearing ungrateful within the comity of nations even though I acknowledge that an honest and transparent narrative from government will further expose false claims by President Akufo-Addo during his Message on the State of the Nation last week that childhood vaccine shortage was a global phenomenon,” Mr. Ablakwa posted on his Facebook page.

Mr. Ablakwa further attributed the shortages that have put many newborns in danger to the government’s incompetence and blatant disregard for the World Health Organization’s warning sometime last year.

“Ghana’s childhood vaccine crisis could have been prevented if the Akufo-Addo government had not ineptly ignored WHO stock-out warnings since July last year.”

“We must be profoundly grateful to Nigeria for their kindness, however, I do hope the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration will find a permanent solution as the Nigerian donation can only last for 6 weeks,” Mr. Ablakwa further stressed.