Pharmacist, Kwame Sarpong Asiedu, has downplayed the possibility of Ghana securing COVID-19 vaccines by March 2021 as the reality on the ground does not support such optimism. The UK-based Ghanaian pharmacist believes that although the country may receive the vaccine next year, it may only be possible by June 2021.
“I know that we will get vaccines but I am a realist and think that we probably wouldn’t get anything trickling in, until about the second quarter of 2021,” he told Newsfile host Samson Lardy Anyenini, Saturday.
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed that Ghana will access the covid-19 vaccine by March 2021. But, the pharmacist and Fellow of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has said the vaccine manufacturers have placed some restrictions on the distribution hence the impossibility.
“The caveat is that you can only get as much as 20 percent of your population and for your vulnerable people.
“The other caveat to it (the vaccine) is that it doesn’t kick in until the end of the first quarter of 2021.”
He further raised concerns on the need for Ghana to prioritise the aged and vulnerable person for the vaccination.
“In the UK, there is an up to date register of step by step vaccination protocols starting with people over 80-years old, then to 70-years and inertial residential homes, then to 65-years vulnerable population…”
Mr Asiedu noted that the Covex agreement itself has stated that health professionals and at-risk vulnerable populations should be prioritised.