President Akufo-Addo has stated that his previous announcement on steps being taken to procure the newly-developed vaccines from drug manufacturers for the novel coronavirus have been successful.

“Fellow Ghanaians, in update number 21, I indicated that Ghana is set to procure her first consignment of the Covid-19 vaccines within the first half of this year. Since then, a lot of work has been done towards the realisation of this.

Following this, the President made known during his 23rd address to the nation on Sunday, January 31, that the country is expected to receive its first consignment of the vaccines in March 2021.

“Through bilateral and multilateral means, we are hopeful that, by the end of June, a total of 17.6 million vaccine doses would have been procured for the Ghanaian people”.

According to him, the target is to vaccinate "the entire population, with an initial target of 20 million people."

President Akufo-Addo also stated that the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) will use its established processes for granting emergency-use-authorisation to facilitate the approval of the vaccine.

He also stated that “As President of the Republic, I assure you that only vaccines that have been evaluated and declared as safe-for-use in Ghana will be administered.”   

In addition, the President reiterated his commitment to ensuring that the spread of the virus in the country is curbed.

He, therefore, called on the general public to also play its role in the fight in order not to undermine government efforts by complying strictly with the Covid-19 safety protocols, as it is the surest way to completely bring the virus under control.

“As we step up public education and enforcement of the protocols on public gatherings, let me also state that regulatory agencies will undertake random checks to ensure conformity with these rules, and the security services will be tasked to enforce them,” he satated.