Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, the National Democratic Congress’ running mate for the 2020 polls, has expressed the need for Ghanaians to adhere to COVID-19 protocols.
According to her, compliance to the safety guidelines will help to avert a possible surge of the virus.
She made this revelation at the 50th-anniversary ceremony of the St. James Catholic Church in Accra.
Her comments follow growing fears of a third wave of infections in the country among various stakeholders and institutions.
“This illness knows no age and name. We were initially told the youth are not susceptible, but now we are being told everybody is. We need to strictly adhere to all the protocols”.
The Ghana Health Service has currently revealed that like many other countries, Ghana is experiencing a third wave of COVID-19 infections. As it stands, Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions continue to lead with the most recorded cases.
On Friday, 23rd July 2021, the total number of active cases stood at 4,521 with daily infection rate for the past week pegged at 350 cases. Also, some forty people are recorded to have died from COVID over the last 10 weeks.
Cumulatively, this bring the number of casualties to 823 since the onset of the pandemic. Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi Metropolitan areas remain the hotspots of infections.
Primarily, the month of July has been shrouded with COVID-19 case count rising significantly, with more than 2,500 new cases recorded.
Following this, government has advised the public to strictly comply with the COVID-19 preventive protocols. Subsequently, it has also indicated that it is working to secure more vaccines to vaccinate all citizens.
Procurement of new vaccines
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has indicated that the country is procuring some 18,478,670 vaccines through the COVAX facility, African Medicine Supply Platform and other bodies to aid in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Addressing the nation on Sunday, July 25, the President noted that these vaccines will arrive in the country in the third quarter of the year.
He further noted that the United States of America through the COVAX facility is providing 1,000,000 Pfizer vaccines. Also, the African Union is providing 229,670 Pfizer vaccines while the United Kingdom is giving out 249,000 AstraZeneca vaccines.
“Government is also in the process of procuring seventeen million (17 million) single dose per person Johnson & Johnson vaccines, through the African Medicine Supply Platform, in this quarter”.
He disclosed that the country’s national, regional and district cold chain facilities have also been upgraded in order to widen access to vaccines like Pfizer and Modena, which require minus seventy degrees Celsius (-70℃) cold chains.
Establishment of National vaccine institute
Additionally, President Akufo-Addo noted that government has committed US$25million for the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute. This, he explained, will help spearhead the manufacture of vaccines to meet national and regional needs.
According to him, the establishment of the institute is based on a recommendation by a committee chaired by Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, which was tasked to investigate Ghana’s potential as a vaccine manufacturing hub.
President Akufo-Addo further intimated that the Institute will be charged with delivering six clear mandates. These includes, establishing local vaccine manufacturing plants, deepening Research and Development (R&D) for vaccines in Ghana and upgrading and strengthening the FDA.
The President said the establishment of the institute has been necessitated by the global shortage of vaccines.
“The global shortage of vaccines means that we must develop our capacity to produce our own vaccines domestically, and reduce our dependence on foreign supplies”.
Read Also: CCF laments lack of classification in Ghana’s prisons
