Government has finally taken delivery of 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines made by the Serum Institute of India (Covishield).
The vaccines were received at the Kotoka International Airport on Wednesday, February 24 by a delegation led by the Minister-designate for Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu.
A statement issued by the Minister-designate for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, says the vaccines will be deployed to health facilities from Tuesday, March 2.
“Covid-19 vaccination will be conducted in phases among segmented populations,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency, stated.
“The first segment of the population that will receive from the 600,000 doses will be health workers, adults 60 years and over, people with underlying health conditions, frontline executive, legislature, judiciary, and their related staff, frontline security personnel, some religious leaders, essential workers, teachers and other personalities in Greater Accra Metro including Awutu Senya West and Awutu Senya East in the Central Region.
“A similar segmented population in the Greater Kumasi Metro and Obuasi municipality will also be covered.”
He said the government remains resolute at ensuring the welfare of all Ghanaians “and is making frantic efforts to acquire vaccines to cover the entire population through bilateral and multilateral agencies”.
He acknowledged the “hard work” of the technical teams of stakeholders including the Ghana Health Service, the Ministry of Health, and the COVID-19 Task Force.
“Our development partners are also acknowledged for their tremendous financial and technical support.
“It is our hope that they will continue to support us in our sustained efforts in combating this virus and putting COVID-19 behind us.”
