The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has urged Ghanaians to cooperate with the vaccination process which has taken off today March 1, 2021.
Speaking at the live telecast of his vaccination alongside his wife and some other government officials at the Police hospital in Accra, he assured the public that the vaccine is safe for use.
“We’re taking this vaccination today to assure the public and Ghanaians that it is safe. It is safe to be immunized. The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has assured us and we’re very confident in the safety of this vaccine, and that is why the President took the lead in this vaccine, and we’re following in that step.
“We are asking all Ghanaians to be cooperative in this process of vaccination, and it’s going to take some time. Our goal is to immunize about 20 million Ghanaians.”
Mahamudu Bawumia
Also, speaking at the during the live telecast, Presidential Advisor on health, Dr. Nsiah-Asare urged the general public not to disregard the safety protocols after they have taken the vaccine.
“Once you have taken the vaccine, you do not have to take off your mask until after 67% of the population has been vaccinated. Then we are moving towards what we call head immunity, once you have head immunity then it means you are safe.”
Dr Nsiah Asare
Speaking to the issue as to why the health officials who administered the vaccines were not in gloves, Dr. Nsiah-Asare noted that, it was because they had sanitised their hands and was safe to do so.
“It is because they have sanitised their hands, if you sanitise your hands, then there is no need putting on gloves again. Also, if they put on gloves then it means they will also have to put on gloves for every patient they vaccinate, it is also cost-effective.
“It is not safe if the health worker is supposed to use one glove too for every person then it will also not be safe. The best and the most cost-effective way is to sanitise your hands.”
Dr Nsiah Asare
Also touching on the public vaccination by the President and the other government officials, Dr. Nsiah-Asare indicated that, it was an attempt to do two things, that is to kickstart the vaccination and also to assure the general public that the vaccines are safe for use.
“For example, the one who has brought in the vaccine, he is the leader of the nation and other leaders as well. They have to show example to everybody that the vaccines are safe and he has taken it so you can also go and take it.”
Dr Nsiah Asare
He further noted that, the President and his wife were vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccines since that was the only available and approved vaccine in the country thus far. He also indicated that, the 600,000 doses are going to be administered to 600,000 categorised people as against the initial concerns of the doses having to be administered twice to every individual which had people thinking only 300,000 were going to be vaccinated.
Dr. Nsiah also noted that, the four main biometric identification cards in the country are going to be used to prove the age of citizens who come in for the jab and also to mainly identify them as citizens of the country.
