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Dr Franklin Asiedu Bekoe, head of the Department of Disease Surveillance (DSD) of the Ghana Health Service, has revealed that Ghana will receive approximately 500,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine this week.
According to Dr. Bekoe, the 500,000 doses are part of the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines that Ghana has yet to receive.
“If you look at the COVAX facilities, it is assumed that Ghana will receive 6 million [doses] and then for the initial start, we’ll get 2.4 million. So this is the first batch of the 2.4 million to come. And it’s purely Oxford-AstraZeneca. “
Dr. Bekoe is hopeful that the vaccines will begin in the first week of March and that the deployment of the vaccines will not be challenging due to the cold temperature requirement.
Regarding how the vaccines will be implemented, Dr. Bekoe revealed that it will be done by observing the population in various segments according to their geographical location, people with health problems among others.
“We are looking at healthcare workers, we are looking at people with underlying illnesses, we are looking at people in their 60s, and then at the arms of government, essential workers. So that’s the segmented population we want to start for now. “
Dr Bekoe noted that with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the first dose is not supposed to be given less than 3 weeks after the first dose, adding that it can be given between 8 and 12 weeks after the first dose.
As such, around 400,000 Ghanaians will be vaccinated in the first launch, with the second dose being administered in March, when the second dose of the vaccine is expected to arrive.
“… If you look at the current regiment, they are saying you don’t give less than 3 weeks. So we can give between 8-12 weeks.
“For our initial allocation, we are going to give everything except the 5% usage factor, so in that case, we are going to vaccinate more than 400,000 people and then we will have the others join in,” he said. “
