The Programmes Manager of Ghana’s Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano has explained that the data of many who took the vaccine cannot be found openly using the QR code because these records were not digitally inputted.
According to him, this issue with the data was as a result of pressure at the various vaccination centres.
“In the initial stage, a lot of people crowded at the vaccination centres for their vaccines. Thus, some of our data managers and data entry personnel had to input the data manually instead of doing it digitally. I think that was because of the pressure.
“It was only recently that they began to enter the data digitally. But gradually they have entered quite a lot, so we have much of the data in the system”.
Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano
The Programmes Manager added that besides the reason given above, some persons who got vaccinated did not give accurate personal information. This, he said, has caused the current situation of missing records after scanning the QR code.
GHS will rectify problem
Dr. Amponsa-Achiano further said the Ghana Health Service is aware of the missing records and as such it will work towards rectifying the problem.
This follow some Ghanaians questioning why they cannot access their vaccination records, after taking the full doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, on the internet using the QR code provided on the cards.
Some Ghanaians have expressed concerns about the development and have questioned if they will be able to use the card outside the borders of Ghana since it cannot be openly authenticated on the portal using the QR code and card number.
Meanwhile, as vaccination efforts are ongoing, Ghana’s Covid-19 deaths have gone beyond the 1,000 mark as the country battles a third wave of the outbreak of the disease.
Death toll hits 1000
By the official case count released by the Disease Surveillance Department of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) on Friday, August 27, a total of 1,001 fatalities have been recorded since the disease hit the country on Thursday, March 12, 2020.
The first death was recorded on Saturday, March 21, 2020 and as of the end of the year since the disease broke out in the country, 335 deaths had been recorded.
However, between then and now, the numbers appear to have tripled with four more months to go to the end of this year.
Vaccinations have been intensified across the country as more doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines are scheduled to be administered in the Greater Accra Region from Tuesday, August 31 for those who took the first jabs in March.
As per the case count, 6,905 patients are on admission for the virus, 62 are in critical conditions while 149 are in severe conditions.
According to the Service, the numbers are expected to increase, nonetheless, these are for data collated so far. The country’s total cumulative cases stand at 117,040 with 109,134 recoveries/discharges.
