Coronavirus: Ghana Health Service warns it will not hesitate to make vaccination mandatory
Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The Ghana Health Service (GHS), worried by fears that some Ghanaian are hesitating to receive the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, has warned it can make the exercise mandatory, local media reported here Monday.
As at 18 November, the GHS said only 3,493,688 people of the country's population of more than 30 million had been vaccinated against the COVID-19.
There are indications that a number of Ghanaians are refusing to take the jabs, a situation that experts believe can derail the government’s effort to contain the virus as well as its spread across the country.
The Director-General of the GHS, Dr. Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has, therefore, warned that "should the need arise, a recommendation for the vaccination exercise to be made mandatory will be done".
“Yes, I am sure that, with time, we will get there and it is something that we have to [do] to bring this pandemic under control and we need to ensure that almost everybody is protected. And if it comes to that I think we will not hesitate to recommend that.
“We have companies in this country that have mandated that if you have not vaccinated, you can’t come to work… we have to bring the virus under control, we need to ensure that everybody is protected,” he said.
This, the GHS has said, could be employed in an attempt to achieve the herd immunity that the government intends even as it projects to vaccinate about 20 million Ghanaians by December.
Earlier, the GHS announced that it would begin the vaccination of 15-year-old students and above with the Pfizer vaccines in schools across the country.
This follows the Food and Drugs Authority’s authorization of the vaccine to be administered to students within that age bracket.
-0- PANA RA 22Nov2021
