Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang Manu says 20,000 doses of Russian Sputnik V vaccines brought into the country by Sheikh Makhtoun have been administered on census officials.

The Dubai-based businessman terminated a contract with the Health Ministry to supply about 3.2 million doses of the vaccines last week following his inability to provide all of the agreed consignment.

Mr Agyemang Manu says the 20,000 doses which came in for trials have been administered to census officials.

"Definitely they will ask us to pay for the 20,000. I have paid bank charges on the 300,000 order for which NC was raised. We have an obligation towards the payment of the 20,000 so it is not correct that we have not lost anything and we will not lose anything as a country.

"They have been used, because of demand for vaccinations in the country. Those who went to do census, this was allocated for their utilization such that they can also have safe environment to operate within, so we have utilized the entire 20,000 and we had to utilize the entire 20,000 because they were also getting close to expiry and we could not let the vaccines go waste", the Health Minister said.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament's Constitution and Legal Affairs Committee Rockson Dafiamekpor says the Health Minister's decision not to seek parliamentary approval for the contract could lead to prosecutions.

The Minister has defended his decision saying it is because Ghanaians were dying.

He says he was desperate to get vaccines and was frustrated because regular vaccine supply sources had failed.

But Mr Dafiamekpor says the minister's justification is untenable.