Over 8.2m Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19

Participants in a group photo after the roundtable discussion

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) Programme manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano has indicated that a total of 8,251,886 people in Ghana have been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus as at August 2022.

This figure represents 36.1 per cent of the 22,855,051-targeted population expected to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity.

Dr. Amponsa-Achiano disclosed this during a media roundtable discussion organised by the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) in partnership with Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) Canada, under the ‘Mobilising media to fight COVID-19’ Project financed by Global Affairs Canada.

He explained that a total of 19,055,059 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered out of which 11,371,567 have received at least one doses representing 49.8 per cent of the total vaccine administered.

He said the performance of the country’s COVID-19 vaccination exercise has been positive adding that regions which hitherto were recording low coverage have started picking up.

Dr. Amponsa-Achiano said this has been the result of the national vaccination campaign organised by the GHS and urged the media to help sustain the momentum. “We can see from the data that vaccinations peaked when we make noise and talk about COVID-19 Vaccination,” he said.

GJA President, Albert Dwumfour said journalists play a key role in debunking the misinformation, myths and rumours surrounding COVID-19.

He said the selected journalists under the project are contributing to international public health efforts to combating the spread of COVID-19 and its impact on human rights, especially women’s and girls’ rights

“We acknowledge the very impressive and impact making stories you have come up with over the period of this project and I will urge you to keep it up,” he said.

President of the National Network of Persons Living with HIV, Elsie Ayeh, said the COVID-19 lockdown initially made it difficult for people living with HIV to attend hospitals and access their medication however, interventions came quickly.

She mentioned that a study conducted revealed that those living with HIV faced challenges due to the lack of awareness about vaccination.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri