… GHS calls for calm as efforts intensify to get more vaccines
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has said that the protection one gets after taking the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine can last at least 90 days.
It has therefore asked people who are awaiting their second dose to exercise restraint amid challenges the nation is facing to get supplies from various entities.
Many people who took the first dose last month and are scheduled for the second dose this month to enhance their level of immunity against the virus are on edge, as the nation is struggling to get the vaccines. According to the GHS, a lot of effort is being put into surmounting the challenge.
So far, one million doses of vaccines have been dispensed but the nation is targetting to vaccinate 20 million people by end of the year to achieve herd-immunity – which is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population becomes immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.
Head of the National Immunisation Programme at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, in an interview with the B&FT said that even though there is a challenge in getting the vaccines, the nation’s herd-immunity plan is on course.
Challenges
One of the nation’s current challenges is inability of the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) to meet its timelines as stipulated for the distribution of vaccines in the country.
After receiving some 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India (Covishield) in late February, another consignment is yet to come. Meanwhile, other stakeholders through bilateral, multilateral and private entities are being engaged by government to support the supply of vaccines to the nation.
This challenge is said to be born out of the priority of countries producing the vaccines to take care of themselves before exporting to other nations. “There is a lot of vaccine-nationalism now, but eventually they will all understand that until a high number of the world population gets immunised no one is safe – and from there they will apportion the vaccines appropriately to ensure that herd-immunity is not only achieved in any one country but globally,” the Head of National Immunisation programme Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano said in an interview.
He is confident that COVAX will meet its target, but not on the timelines stipulated from the word go. He further explained that COVAX expects vaccines from India to be distributed to all the countries which have signed onto it – but the lack of supply is what has affected the timelines, as India is producing to vaccinate its own people.
But from the experience of Israel, where they opted to buy a dose for about US$40 – way above market price – countries are aware of the fact that financial commitment is key to ensuring the early receipt of vaccines. Israel, through this means, has been able to vaccinate over 60 percent of its population.
