The United States (US) government has announced a $24.7 million funding to augment the country’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts nationwide.
The funding, provided through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will accelerate the delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccinations in every part of Ghana.
The announcement formed part of the Initiative for Global Vaccine Access (Global VAX).
USAID Ghana Acting Mission Director, Janean Davis, said the US has now donated 9.6 million COVID-19 vaccines to Ghana.
“We realize, however, that the donation of vaccines is not enough. That’s why, today, 1am excited to announce on behalf of the US government, an additional S24.7 million dollars to Ghana to accelerate the delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccinations as part of Global VAX,” she said.
Ms. Davis also announced the recent arrival of nearly two million more Plizer COVID-19 vaccines, which arrived in Ghana the week of March 21.
Since September 2021, the United States has donated more than 9.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Ghana, representing more than 30 percent of all vaccines available in Ghana, Worldwide.
Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said the country has so far vaccinated close to 13.4 million people using different strategies including targeting the most vulnerable and hotspots.
He noted that one of the challenges the service faces in its vaccination drive is vaccine hesitancy among pregnant women.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said the service has increased its advocacy especially among pregnant women adding that it is expecting to vaccinate over 5000 pregnant women by the close of the year.
The Greater Accra Regional Health Director, Dr. Charity Sarpong lauded the programme, saying the region has had its fair share of the pandemic since the first two cases were recorded.
She noted that the region has recorded over 90,000 cases but also had over 99 per cent recovering due to hard work of staff and leadership.
She said although the region experience four waves and lost four per cent of the affected persons, the introduction of the vaccine recorded case management improvements.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0