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Ghana will take delivery this morning of its first batch of 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Covishield AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, one of the vaccines ordered by the government, will arrive at Kotoka International Airport today at 7:30 a.m.
Diplomatic sources confirmed last night to the Daily Graphic that the delivery was made possible after the shipment of doses was authorized by the Indian government and drugmakers to COVAX for supply to Ghana.
The sources said the shipment would be carried by Emirates Airlines freighter, EK787.
An Indian high commission in Ghana tweeted last night: “To honor our commitment to help the world with COVID-19 vaccines, 600,000 ‘Made in India’ vaccines reach #Accra #Ghana on February 24 as part of the ‘COVAX installation.’
The tweet echoed on the grips of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, World Health Organization (WHO), GAVI, Ministry of Health, among others.
Two vaccines
The government has opted for two vaccines, the Covishield and the Russian Sputnik-V.
The Ghana health service explained that the use of vaccines was a major complementary measure to break the transmission of COVID-19 due to the lack of optimal adherence to the preventive protocol.
According to the service, because people had let their guard down on preventive protocols, the gains made in the first wave of the epidemic were quickly eroding.
The vaccines will be administered as part of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) which is due to start in two weeks.
The government has urged the public to ignore all the myths about COVID-19 vaccines and to avail themselves of the vaccination as soon as it is launched.
Health Minister-designate Kwaku Agyemang-Manu called on behalf of the government, and said vaccination has proven to be the easiest method to break transmission when used to complement other security protocols.
Vaccination plan
The vaccination exercise will be done in segmentation according to the vulnerabilities of the population.
The first phase will cover health workers, people with known underlying health problems and security personnel.
The second phase will cover all three branches of government, other essential service providers, people over 60, the media, students and graduate and tertiary teachers.
The third phase will involve other members of the population, except children under 16 and pregnant women.
The immunization program would be expanded to include children under 16 and pregnant women over time.
Background
President Akufo-Addo announced at this year’s New Years School on January 19 that the government has entered into discussions with some COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing companies, with the aim of ordering the appropriate vaccine doses to use. in Ghana.
This followed the completion of the work of the committee set up by the government to recommend the appropriate decision on a COVID-19 vaccine.
He noted that thanks to advances in science, some vaccines were already being administered in some countries to help control and possibly end the pandemic.
Insurance
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) said it had used adequate safety and quality assurance to authorize the administration of the two COVID-19 vaccines in the country.
He said no standards of safety and efficacy had been bypassed or compromised, except that the emergency use authorization pathway allowed for expedited review for the public good.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the FDA, Ms. Delese Mimi Darko, has vouched for the safety and efficacy of Covishield AstraZeneca from India and Sputnik-V from Russia.
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