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Ghana is one of 92 countries that will receive a no-fault claim for serious side effects from people vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine acquired from the COVAX facility.
This follows an agreement from the World Health Organization (WHO) that a no-fault lump sum would be provided for severe side effects of the COVAX vaccine to reduce the need to go to court, a potentially lengthy and costly process. .
Dr Kwame Amponsa -Achiano, program director for the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that Ghana is part of the COVAX facility and “definitely part of the compensation by extension ”.
The COVID-19 Vaccine, Global Access (COVAX) facility is a global initiative to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments and vaccines to all countries, regardless of their wealth.
The WHO said COVAX was created to maximize the world’s chances of successfully developing COVID-19 vaccines and manufacturing them in the quantities needed to end the pandemic.
Dr Amponsa-Achiano said the compensation was monetary, but did not know how much people who developed side effects from the COVAX vaccine would receive.
He explained that “vaccines save lives, but because we give them to people who are not sick, some might really be reactive to the ingredients in the vaccine and when that happens, such a person will have to be compensated. ”
He said Ghana would receive around half a million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine by Friday February 26, 2021, saying: “We have not yet received the documentation to know the exact vaccine doses to be expected, but the vaccines are on their way, they were flown in yesterday from Bombay, and we are following them.
Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, director of public health for the Ghana Health Service, also told the GNA that Ghana would not limit itself to one vaccine in particular but opt for a safe and approved vaccine regardless of the cost.
“We first opted for AstraZeneca, not because of the cost, but because it is safe and takes into account our existing cold chain,” he added.
He said Ghana has written a letter to all COVID-19 manufacturing companies and only two have responded to date.
Dr Asiedu-Bekoe said the COVAX vaccine, which is expected to be in the country on Friday, was free.
“It was acquired free of charge and vaccination will begin a week after arrival among frontline health workers, senior government officials and people with highlighted health problems.
COVAX provides free doses to at least 20% of a country’s population.
The mechanism, supported by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), WHO and other international organizations, aims to make two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine available by the end of 2021 to protect vulnerable and frontline health workers. .
Dr Asiedu-Bekoe said that the vaccination of the first target groups will be done through the existing health facilities for a more organized exercise.
He said Ghana had also requested the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine and that the Russian company had reserved around 10 million doses in Ghana at a minimum cost of $ 10 per dose.
A vaccine is a biological preparation which confers active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, and vaccination is a simple, safe and effective way to protect people from harmful diseases before they come into contact with them.
—Citinewsroom
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