General News of Saturday, 7 August 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2021-08-07Akufo-Addo’s 20 million jabs by end of 2021 not feasible – Finance Minister
Akufo-Addo received his first does of Coronavirus vaccine at the 37 Military Hospital
• In May, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo reiterated plans to vaccinate 20 million citizens by end of 2021
• That projection is highly unlikely according to Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta
• He cites global vaccine crunch as a reason the target looks unlikely with five months to end the year
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Ghana will likely not achieve its plan to vaccinate 20 million Ghanaians by the end of 2021 given the unavailability of Coronavirus vaccine supplies on the global market.
This is the view of Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who admits that despite having a roadmap for vaccination, achieving herd immunity is not feasible.
“We are yet to hit even 2% of our target of vaccination, which is 20 million people by the end of the year, will we be able to do this as promised?” he was asked on Asaase Radio’s Evening News of August 5, 2021.
The minister responded: “I get confused with questions like that when you know that the supply element now has changed considerably and it is evident that the way in which the world dealt with this ensured that Africa was not going to get the supply.
“It is only now that we seem to have resolved it and I have given you a certain sense of the roadmap as to that, so will we efficiently stick to this for that to happen?”
Then his admission came:
“It is unlikely that we will get to herd immunity of 60 or 70% by December, but we’ll certainly have a roadmap which ensures that doses will be coming in regularly so that our people are protected.”
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in May during his Coronavirus address said the vaccination target was to get 20 million people inoculated by the end of this year.
“The target is to vaccinate 20 million Ghanaians by the end of the year, there is light at the end of the tunnel,” the president said.
