The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has praised President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for showing leadership by taking the first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine in Ghana.
He said the example set by the Ghanaian President was critical towards inspiring confidence in the vaccine.
“I salute the example set by President Akufo-Addo in receiving the first COVID-19 vaccination through the COVAX Facility.
“Your leadership is key to promoting confidence in this life-saving tool in Ghana and across Africa,” Dr. Tedros stated in a tweet.
President Akufo-Addo and his Vice Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, and their spouses, took shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine at the 37 Military Hospital and Police Hospital respectively in Accra on Monday.
Their action was aimed at demystifying public apprehension about the Coronavirus vaccine and enhance public confidence.
The first and second couples of the land were issued with vaccination cards as a shred of evidence that they had been vaccinated.
Mass vaccination
Meanwhile, mass vaccination against the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic took off smoothly yesterday at various district across the country.
Government through the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and its allies has segmented the population geographically to administer the vaccine.
People around COVID-19 hotspots areas such as the Greater Accra Metropolitan area, Awutu Senya East and West, Greater Kumasi Metropolitan area, and Obuasi Municipal areas are the first to be vaccinated.
A total of 43 Metropolitan, Municipal, and Districts including 25 in the Greater Accra Region, 16 in the Ashanti, and two in the Central regions, that are regarded as the epicentres are the first to be vaccinated against the virus.
Persons with underlying health conditions, those who are 60 years and above, frontline healthcare workers, frontline security personnel, members of the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary are first in line to receive shots of the vaccines.
AstraZeneca vaccine
The government on February 24, 2021, received 600,000 Covishield AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines produced by the Serum Institute of India under the Global Access Facility (COVAX Facility).
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has, so far, approved Covishield AstraZeneca vaccines and Sputnik-V vaccines from Russia for mass immunisation in Ghana.
The vaccines would be administered in three phases, with each person expected to take two doses to help create head immunity for the population.
It is estimated that 20 million Ghanaians would be vaccinated across the country.
The GHS has trained over 12,500 vaccinators, 2,000 supervisors, and 37,413 volunteers.
Ghana is expected to receive 12.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX Facility, free of charge.
However, government is expected to spend about $38 million to procure vaccines through bilateral and multilateral relations.
The government is making frantic efforts to secure more vaccines to cover the entire population through bilateral and multilateral agencies.
