Report by Nana POKU
The Minister of Health Hon. Kwaku Agyemang Manu has announced that any time from now, his ministry would announce specific days for vaccination at vantage points in Ghana to open the avenues for citizens to take advantage to vaccinate against the Covid 19 disease.
This has become necessary as a result of the high rate of the Omicron virus infections spreading across the length and breath of the country.
The minister was briefing journalists at the minister’s Press Briefing in Accra on Wednesday, 19th January 2022.
He indicated that so far over 25 million doses of vaccines have arrived in the country but the country has administered only 2.499 million doses to the citizens.
He said that 34 % of the population have received a single dose while 16 % have taken the full dose. He emphasized that the ministry will continue to source and place orders for more vaccines till the whole population is vaccinated.
He gave a breakdown of the various vaccines with Astra Zenica topping the list, followed by Johnson and Johnson. The honourable minister lamented about the current wave of the Omicron virus that is ravaging the country making the fourth wave the highest since 2020.
On the issue of Ghana producing the vaccines locally, he stated that plans are far advanced to come out with our own products soon. This is because Cabinet has given approval for its production. He indicated that a building for the project is underway and very soon it will start production. According to the minister, its manufacturing and distribution will be done by the country’s health research institutions. The minister postulated that all the requisite researches have been done and that Cabinet will soon meet to deliberate on it to come out with its recommendations for implementation.
In another development, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye warned that the fourth wave has surpassed the previous waves and that all the sixteen regions have cases. He told journalists that from November to date there have been rapid increase in cases of Omicron infections in Ghana. The death toll is now 1360, active case 1654, 11 critical cases while severe cases are 40. He said the recovery rate is encouraging but the infection rate is very high.
He said that as a a result of the infection rate, the health facilities are switched to full gear. He indicated that the curve is coming down.
He said that those who have taken the full dose did not suffer severe attacks of the disease. He announced plans to vaccinate certain category of people in the country like students, drivers and mates, security services, health workers, workers and cluster areas. Again those who have vaccinated already may get a third dose after 6 months to further boost their intake. Better still pregnant women will be vaccinated after thorough education had been embarked on. Once again, he called on all Ghanaians to observe the protocols.
“That’s is the only way to avoid escalation,” he said.
