AstraZeneca jabs resume August 27
Persons who have already received jabs of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in March this year, would from next week Friday, August 27, have the second dose to complete their intake of injection.
The administration of the vaccine to about 400,000 comes after the arrival of the 249,600 doses of the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine delivered under the COVAX facility, courtesy of the United Kingdom (UK) government.
According to the Manager of the Ghana Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) programme, Dr Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, priority would be given to those who took their first jab from March 10, 2021, and beyond.
Meanwhile, Dr Amponsa-Achiano, said the Ghana Health Service was finalising the deployment plan for the recent AstraZeneca consignment and the plan would determine the exact day the exercise would start next week.
READ ALSO: Ghana Receives 250k AstraZeneca Doses From COVAX Programme
Ghana took delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine doses donated by the government of the United Kingdom on Wednesday, August 18.
The doses were received on behalf of the country by officials of the Ministry of Health as well as United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Ghana.
Wednesday morning’s delivery brings to about 850,000 AstraZeneca doses received by the government of Ghana.
Ghana was the first country worldwide to benefit from the COVAX programme after receiving 250,000 AstraZeneca doses in March and another 350,000 in May. Both deliveries were two parts of a promised 600,000-dose delivery by COVAX.
The donation is part of the COVAX programme, a United Nations-driven initiative to secure vaccines in a competitive global space for lower and middle-income countries.
President Akufo-Addo assures of hedge immunity
Ghana’s vaccination efforts have been at the mercy of manufacturer’s problems as well as internal scandals such as the Ministry of Health’s botched attempt to buy 300,000 doses of Russian Sputnik V vaccines through an intermediary. However, President Nana Akufo-Addo is confident Ghana will attain herd immunity this year.
Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony for a new hospital to be built at Trede in the Ashanti Region, President Akufo-Addo said approximately 20 million of Ghana’s population had been targeted for vaccination within the shortest possible time.
He made similar comment during 20th address to the nation on COVID-19 gave the assurance that the government would ensure that the COVID-19 vaccines deployed in the country were effective and safe.
Although, the supply has encountered hitches, the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsia-Asare, told Citi TV that the government was determined to achieve herd immunity of vaccinating at least 60 per cent of the population.
READ ALSO: Deployment Of One-Shot Johnson&Johnson Vaccine To Start On August 16
The country is also administering more than 170,000 Johnson&Johnson vaccines received through the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT). The doses are part of a total of 6.4 million vaccine doses to be shipped to African Union Member States in August 2021.
The one-shot Johnson&Johnson doses are being given to residents of Accra and Kumasi metropolitan areas between August 16 and August 20. Encouraging turnouts have been recorded in the dozens of vaccination centres.