Sammy Gyamfi and two others have hauled the Attorney-General and others to court over compulsory vaccinations at Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

The applicants claim, in the suit which also features the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and Ghana Airport Company, that the policy violates the fundamental human rights of Ghanaians.

According to Sammy Gyamfi, much research has not gone into the development of vaccines to warrant compulsory administration. 

In the suit, he stated that per information published on the official website of the World Health Organization, all Covid-19 vaccines recommended by the Organization for emergency use listing have an efficacy rate of just 50% or above.

He added that another scientific study has shown that Covid-19 vaccinated persons spread the coronavirus disease more than the unvaccinated.

Mr Gyamfi stated that “given the fact that the Covid-19 vaccines being forced and mandated by the Respondents on all unvaccinated persons, who are 18 years and above and are travelling to or from Ghana, do not prevent people from contracting the virus or spreading same, for which reason even fully vaccinated and boosted persons are still required to produce a negative PCR Test issued within 72 hours of embarkation to Ghana and an additional negative antigen test upon arrival at the Kotoka International Airport, it is the Covid-19 status of a person entering or leaving Ghana that should reasonably be the concern of the Respondents and not their vaccination status.”

In the suit, Mr Gyamfi asked the court to declare that the directive by the Ghana Health Service threaten fundamental human rights of people as enshrined under Article 21(1)(g) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

The NDC spokesperson has been campaigning against the policy with support from other members of the party, including MPs.

Taking to his Facebook timeline to register his displeasure, Sammy Gyamfi wrote, “Vaccination must be by choice and not by force,” after the GHS made some modifications to its protocols regarding foreign travel through the Kotoka International Airport.

The Service had noted that in the wake of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, all persons 18 years and above arriving in Ghana from December 12 must provide proof of full vaccination.

However, Mr Gyamfi in his post said the directive is an affront to the 1992 Constitution.

As such, he pledged to use every legitimate means possible to resist the “madness, no matter the cost or stigma.”

Thus in the suit, Mr Gyamfi wants the court to order the Ghana Health Service and authorities at the KIA to put a stop to the directive.

The legal practitioner and the other applicants are also demanding “a declaration that the impugned directives of the Respondents (GHS) contravene medical ethics and best practices that govern Covid-19 vaccine administration.”

They also demand “a declaration that the impugned directives of the Respondents violated Section 2(1) of the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (ACT 1012) and Sections 21, 22 and 30 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851) and therefore illegal.”

Meanwhile, a Pharmacist and Research Fellow at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) Kwame Sarpong Asiedu has intimated that mandatory vaccination, according to the laws of the state, is legal.

Citing Ghana’s Public Health Act 2012 (851), Dr Sarpong Asiedu argued that government has the mandate to make general decisions for the public (with regards to health and compulsory vaccination); provided it is not injurious to the health of (any) individual.

Under this Act, “there’s a clause on public vaccination and compulsory vaccination. It looks like even under our laws, mandatory vaccination is legal as long as the legal instrument is enforced,” he said.