Otumfuo, Ga Mantse, Mahama others vaccinated against COVID-19
The list of officials and personalities who have received the COVID-19 vaccines to boost public confidence has swelled in the last 24 hours.
This includes the clergy, chiefs, and political leaders who have shown leadership, to whip up interest in vaccination among their followers.
The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Ga Mantse Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, and former President John Dramani Mahama are the latest officials to receive vaccinations in public on Tuesday, March 2, 2021.
Ghana has launched its nationwide vaccination programme to curb the spread of COVID-19 after receiving an initial 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine under the COVAX facility.
The country plans to vaccinate 20million by the end of 2021.
Otumfuo and wife receive jab
The Asante monarch and some officials at the Manhyia Palace received their jabs on Tuesday morning.
The process lasted less than 15 minutes.
A public health nurse explained the process to the Asantehene.
After receiving the green light, she sanitized her hands and transferred the vaccine from one vial into a syringe.
The content was emptied into Otumfuo’s body at the left shoulder.
Otumfuo did not show any sign of pain or discomfort and clapped his hands at the end of the procedure as officials from the palace cheered.
The process was repeated for Otumfuo’s wife Lady Julia Osei Tutu.
Second-in-command of the Ashanti Kingdom, Mamponghene Daasebre Osei Bonsu II, also received the jab together with his wife.
Other subchiefs from the Manyhia Palace also volunteered to be vaccinated at the event telecast live.
Ga Mantse Tackie Teiko Tsuru II received vaccination
In the Greater Accra Region, Ga Mantse Tackie Teiko Tsuru II got the job at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital where the official launch of the nationwide vaccination was launched.
He was concerned about the devastation of COVID-19 in the capital, a section that falls under his traditional authority.
With Accra being the epi-centre of the spread, he charged everyone to accept the COVID-19 vaccines.
“If you have the opportunity to take the jab, please do it immediately and with speed,” He admonished.
He stressed that the country cannot lose any more lives to the pandemic.
Mahama gets vaccinated
Also receiving his nomination was former President John Dramani Mahama and his wife Lordina Mahama.
The flagbearer of the biggest opposition party in the 2020 elections got vaccinated at the Polic Hospital.
He encouraged members of the public to take the vaccinations as he alluded to the vaccines given to infants in Ghana.
“It is due to vaccines that today our children don’t get yaws and measles,” he said. “Vaccines are something that are useful to preserve our health”.
He dispelled myths and misconceptions describing the vaccines as “safe” for Ghanaians.
Other officials vaccinated
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and his wife Samira Bawumia followed suit at the Police Hospital.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor also took the vaccine at his home in Peduase on Tuesday.
From the clergy, the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, Most Rev Dr Paul Boafo, was among the personalities who took their COVID-19 vaccination first jab on Monday.
Former Speaker of Parliament Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye and some officials of the Council of State were also given shots of the vaccine.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr James Oppong-Boanuh also led his personnel to take the COVID-19 jabs.
Others expected to be injected include Members of Parliament, the Chief Justice and Justices of the Superior Court of Judicature, Chairperson and Members of the Council of State, the Chief of Staff and senior officials at the Office of the President, and prominent personalities like some Eminent Clergy, the National Chief Imam.
About Ghana’s vaccine programme
The first batch of Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccines will be given to persons in 43 areas identified as hotspots of the infection that has claimed 607 lives with 5,444 active cases.
A total of 25 of the epicentres are in the Greater Accra, 16 are located in Ashanti Region, and two in the Central Region.
AstraZeneca and Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines are the only brands approved by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).
The vaccination is being done in segments.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has released a list of health facilities where the vaccines are being administered without any cost to recipients.
Group 1 is categorised as “persons most at risk and frontline State officials”.
It includes healthcare workers, frontline security personnel, persons with underlying medical conditions, persons sixty (60) years and above, and frontline members of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.
Group 2 is made up of other essential service providers and the rest of the security agencies.
It includes water and electricity supply services, teachers and students, supply and distribution of fuels, farmers and food value chain, telecommunications services, air traffic and civil aviation control services, meteorological services, air transport services, waste management services, media, public and private commercial transport services, the Police Service, Armed Forces, Prisons Service, Immigration Service, National Fire Service, CEPS Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, and other members of the Executive, Judiciary, and Legislature.
Group 3 consists of the rest of the general public that is all persons over eighteen (18) years, except for pregnant women.
The final group, that is Group 4, will include pregnant mothers and persons under the age of eighteen (18), and they will be vaccinated when an appropriate vaccine, hopefully, is found or when enough safety data on the present vaccines are available.
Special arrangements will be made for persons with disabilities who fall within these groups.