COVID-19 vaccination in Ghana

COVID-19 vaccination in Ghana began on Monday 1 March 2021 after the country became the first recipient of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as part of the COVAX initiative. As of 6 June 2021, Ghana has administered 1,230,000 vaccine doses.[1]

COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Ghana
Vaccination card issued after taking the COVID-19 vaccine
Date1 March 2021 (2021-03-01) – present
CauseCOVID-19 pandemic
TargetImmunisation of Ghanaians against COVID-19
Participants
Outcome
  • 4% of the Ghanaian population has received at least one dose
  • 1% of the Ghanaian population has been fully vaccinated
See also: COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana

Background

In 2020, president Nana Akufo-Addo signed the UNAIDS Public Letter on People's Vaccine which was a campaign calling for public accessibility to the COVID-19 vaccine. He joined other world leaders to write an open letter in order to encourage the distribution of free vaccines at no cost to all people. This was because of concerns raised that people in richer countries may have quicker access to the vaccine than poor countries.[2] Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway stated on 12 February 2021 that there was an engagement between Ghana, Russia and China to secure COVID-19 vaccines.[3] Accra and Kumasi were said by the government to be the first places to receive the vaccines.[4]

On 24 February 2021, a shipment of 600,000 Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Accra via COVAX made it the first country in Africa to receive vaccines via the initiative.[5] The vaccination campaign began on 1 March 2021 as president Akufo-Addo received the first jab.[6][7]

Vaccines on order
Vaccine Approval Deployment
Oxford–AstraZeneca[8] Yes 1 March 2021
Sputnik V Yes[9] Yes
Janssen Yes[10] No

History
US Officials deliver COVID-19 vaccines to Ghana as part of the COVAX program in November 2021

March 2021

On 1 March 2021, Ghana began its national vaccination program against COVID-19. By the end of the month more than half a million doses had been administered.[11]

April 2021

Ghana received 350,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine which the Democratic Republic of Congo had been unable to use before the expiry date.[12] By the end of the month 0.8 million doses had been administered.

May 2021

By the end of the month 1.2 million doses had been administered.

June 2021

By the end of the month 1.3 million doses had been administered.

September 2021

By the end of the month 1.6 million doses had been administered.

October 2021

Ghana received more than 1.5 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from Germany and half a million doses of the same vaccine from Denmark, Norway and Iceland. It also received 1.3 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from the United States.[13]

By the end of the month three million doses had been administered. 7% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated.

November 2021

By the end of the month 3.2 million doses had been administered. 7% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated.

December 2021

By the end of the month 7.8 million doses had been administered. 18% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated.

January 2022

By the end of the month 9.7 million doses had been administered. 27% of the targeted population had been fully vaccinated.

February 2022

By the end of the month 12.6 million doses had been administered and 4.9 million persons had been fully vaccinated.

March 2022

By the end of the month 14.2 million doses had been administered and 5.1 million persons had been fully vaccinated.

April 2022

By the end of the month 13 million doses had been administered and 5.8 million persons had been fully vaccinated.

Deployment

Rollout
Use of COVAX vaccines in Ghana

According to the Ghana Health Service, the COVID-19 vaccine would be free of charge for Ghanaians.[14] Dr. Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, Director of Public Health at GHS, pregnant women and children below 16 years were exempted from the first phase of the vaccination exercise.[15] The recipients of the first phase of the vaccination exercise which was to begin on 1 March 2021; were "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 and other personalities".[16]

On 1 March 2021, the President Nana Akufo-Addo[7] and the Vice President Bawumia were vaccinated first.[17] By 2 March 2021, the vaccination program was launched in the Ashanti region which was the second Ghanaian region scheduled for the exercise.[18] Over 10,000 people in the region had been vaccinated by 5 March 2021.[19] The Ghana COVID-19 Private Sector Fund partnered with the government to assist in the vaccination campaign.[20] Security personnel such as Customs officials of GRA,[21] officials of GPS and the staff of VRA took part in the vaccination exercise on 6 March 2021.[22] Members of Parliament also received the jabs of the vaccine.[23] More than 60,300 health workers across were vaccinated on 11 March 2021 across the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Central Region.[24]

The second doses for the AstraZeneca vaccine commenced on 19 May 2021.[25] About 13,600 participants received their second shot.[26]

Progress

Cumulative vaccinations[27]

See also

References
  1. Bateman, Tom (6 June 2021). "Drone delivery of vaccine doses speeds up COVID-19 vaccinations in remote areas of Ghana". Euronews. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  2. "COVID-19: Nana Addo joins world leaders in signing People's Vaccine". Citinewsroom - Comprehensive News in Ghana, Current Affairs, Business News , Headlines, Ghana Sports, Entertainment, Politics, Articles, Opinions, Viral Content. 16 May 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  3. "Ghana engaging Russia, China to get Covid-19 vaccine - Shirley Ayorkor". MyJoyOnline. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  4. "Greater Accra, Kumasi to receive vaccine first- GHS". MyJoyOnline. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  5. "Ghana receives first historic shipment of COVID-19 vaccinations from international COVAX facility". UN News. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  6. "Playback: Akufo-Addo, Bawumia, others get vaccinated against Covid-19". MyJoyOnline. March 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  7. "Photos: Akufo-Addo, First Lady take first jab of Covid-19 vaccine". MyJoyOnline. March 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  8. "Ghana, Ivory Coast receive world's first free COVAX jabs". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  9. "Ghana approves Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for emergency use – RDIF". Reuters. 20 February 2021.
  10. "Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to be available in Ghana by August". Graphic Online.
  11. "Covid-19: 555,259 persons vaccinated so far - Ghana Health Service". MyJoyOnline. 1 April 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  12. Princewill, Nimi (19 May 2021). "African countries have struggled to secure enough Covid-19 vaccines. So why are thousands of doses going to waste?". CNN. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  13. "More COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Ghana". World Health Organization. 18 October 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  14. "Covid-19 vaccines in Ghana are free for average Ghanaian - Ghana Health Service". MyJoyOnline. 13 February 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  15. "Covid-19: Pregnant women, children under 16-years are exempted from vaccination- Dr Bekoe". MyJoyOnline. 13 February 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  16. "Newly arrived vaccines to be deployed to health facilities from March 2". Citi Newsroom. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  17. "Bawumia, Samira also receive COVID-19 vaccine [Photos]". Citi Newsroom. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  18. "Research findings on vaccines from India and China to be completed in 10 days - FDA". MyJoyOnline. 2 March 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  19. "Ashanti: About 10,000 vaccinated against COVID-19 – Health officials". Citi Newsroom. 5 March 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  20. "Covid-19 Private Sector Fund to support government procure vaccines". MyJoyOnline. 2 March 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  21. "Customs officials undertake Covid-19 vaccination". MyJoyOnline. 6 March 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  22. "Prisons officers, VRA staff vaccinate against COVID-19". Graphic Online. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  23. "Speaker of Parliament, MPs receive COVID-19 vaccine". Citi Newsroom. 6 March 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  24. "More health workers receive COVID-19 jab". Graphic Online. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  25. "Covid-19 second dose roll out: Exercise to innoculate 360,000 persons underway - MyJoyOnline.com". www.myjoyonline.com. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  26. "Second COVID-19 jabs begin - 13,682 Vaccinated". Graphic Online. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  27. "owid/covid-19-data". GitHub. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
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