The administration of the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccines in the Ashanti Region has been extended for six more days.

Initially slated to end on Saturday, September 4, 2021, officials of the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service, said the exercise which began on August 31 will now end on Friday, September 10, 2021.

Additionally, eligibility has been widened to include all individuals who have received their first dose, irrespective of the date and place of vaccination.

These changes have become necessary due to disruptions to the exercise; preventing many eligible persons from getting fully vaccinated. Again, the region has taken delivery of adequate vaccines to cover other persons who took their first dose after 29th March 2021″, the Health Directorate said in a statement.

Ghana is seeking to vaccinate 20 million of its population against COVID-19 by the end of 2021.

177,600 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine under the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Trust initiative were administered to unvaccinated persons in COVID-19 hotspots in the Greater Accra Region and the Ashanti Region.

Before the latest round of vaccinations with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, only 405,971 had received both doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines whilst 865,422 had received one dose.

However, the country is currently vaccinating Ghanaians due to receive their second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines.

The government took delivery of 1,229,620 Moderna vaccines on Saturday, 4th September 2021.

An additional 1.3 million Pfizer vaccines are also expected in Ghana by the end of this month, according to the Ministry of Information.

AstraZeneca was the first vaccine to arrive in Ghana earlier this year when the country heightened its efforts to beat COVID-19.