Government guarantees safe and effective vaccines as it rolls out plans to immunize 20 million citizens

General news for Friday 19 February 2021

Source: Peace FM

2021-02-19

The government has given assurances that the purchased COVID-19 vaccines have an impressive rate of effectiveness and are fully protective against severe cases of the virus in the country. This follows President Akufo-Addo’s announcement last December that preparations are underway to secure COVID-19 vaccines for the country.

Formally announcing a vaccine deployment plan at a stakeholder engagement forum on Friday, February 19, 2021, Minister-designate Kojo Oppong Nkrumah explained that discussions were underway in the background. with several meetings with industry experts to work out a comprehensive vaccine deployment plan.

He said: “As you have been following in recent weeks during the President’s speeches, Ghana is working on a rollout of the immunization program and has been working to determine which vaccines, when, what quantities, which segments of the population , what is the cost to countries receiving vaccines, among others. Today we are in a position where we can officially inform the nation of where we are on this journey.

He acknowledged that the commitment was important, especially in helping to address the long-held misconception by some sections of the public that vaccines are harmful and should not be given. He said it was important to gather input from stakeholders in order to demystify this long-held misconception and involve them more in vaccine deployment, hence the need for a forum.

The forum was attended by Minister Designate of Health Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Director General of Ghana Health Service (GHS) Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Program Director of the GHS Expanded Program on Immunization Dr Kwame Amponsa – Achiano and an immunologist and researcher at the West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, University of Ghana, Dr Yaw Bediako.

Health Minister-designate Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, who also addressed the assembly, stressed that the vaccine could not have arrived at a convenient time. He said with the country going through a second wave of severe cases of the virus, the arrival of the vaccine will help prevent further infections and eradicate the virus completely.

“The only thing we need to add is the preventive mechanism of vaccination. The world had rushed to develop vaccines which are quite unusual for scientific reasons, but due to the urgency and the emergency situation, the pandemic which is afflicting the whole world, they have managed to provide us with something. thing to use. WHO will always tell you that for universal health coverage no one should be left behind and therefore Ghana will not be left behind. A lot has been done, we have had stakeholder engagements with many groups and we will continue to hold the same to try to see how we are all going to adhere to the immunization program, ”he noted.

Detailing the importance of vaccines in eradicating the virus, Dr Kumah-Aboagye highlighted the effectiveness of the vaccines purchased, especially in countries that have immunized part of their population. He noted that the rate of community transmission of the virus in the country, although stable, is relatively high with several hotspots identified. However, he said the deployment of these vaccines will help break the chain of transmission in our communities.

For his part, as director of the program, Dr Amponsa-Achiano presented the main components of the vaccination deployment plan. He said the deployment plan is the product of several commitments, commitments, working sessions, review of available documents and guidelines with development partners. He noted that the deployment will be based on segmentation. He added that ultimately the government was planning to vaccinate the entire Ghanaian population, but it is targeting 20 million people initially, starting with health workers, people with low health conditions. people over the age of 60, security personnel among others.

Referring to the health benefits of vaccines, Dr Bediako said that vaccines train the immune system to make antibodies, just like it does when exposed to disease. He pointed out that vaccines use the body’s natural defenses to build resistance to specific infections and strengthen the immune system, which helps protect people from harmful diseases before they come in contact with them.