A Deputy Minister for Health, Tina Mensah has said that the next batch of vaccines the country will receive will be deployed to other regions.
Currently, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) is administering the Johnson & Johnson jabs in parts of the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions.
However, some residents in other regions like the Volta Region have criticized the GHS over the unavailability of vaccines in the region despite it being described as a hotspot.
They are thus calling on the government, the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to urgently deploy some vaccines to their region to help curb the spread of the outbreak.
However, speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the leadership programme for health transformation in Africa on Tuesday, August 17, 2021, Tina Mensah said the Johnson & Johnson vaccines that the country received recently are not enough to cover the whole country.
But she assured that the Ghana Health Service is expecting some vaccines and will focus on the other hotspots in the country.
“I was the one that received the Johnson & Johnson vaccines that came in recently, and it wasn’t enough to cover all the hotspots. So the Ghana Health Service did its best by looking at all the various hotspots for vaccination.”
“I am amazed about the turnout for the exercise because initially there were reports that people didn’t want to take the vaccines. I empathize with them [residents of the Volta Region] that they feel they are also a hotspot and that they should also get some vaccines, but we have only a limited number of vaccines. I have been informed that some [vaccines] are coming soon and that all other areas will be covered.”
Meanwhile, the ongoing vaccination is expected to end on Friday, August 20, 2021.