The Ministry of Information has refuted a publication indicating that Government will impose sanction on persons who refuse to take the coronavirus vaccine.

In a press statement signed by the Public Relations Officer, Munira Karim, the ministry noted that the purported statement was taken out of context, hence should be disregarded.

"The attention of the Ministry of Information has been drawn to a false publication by a number of reputable online portals and newspapers to the effect that Government will sanction persons who refuse to take the Covid-19 vaccine."

"The said reportage is false. Government has neither taken nor announced any such decision," he stated.

According to Munira Karim, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah at a press briefing in Peduase on Monday, March 8, 2021, was asked whether or not sanctions will be imposed on persons who refused the Covid-19 vaccines.

In response, Oppong Nkrumah said, "as at now, there are no sanctions that have been rolled out. We are encouraging strongly that people should take the vaccine and we are pleased that we are observing that the initial vaccine hesitancy appears to be toning down a bit and we congratulate you our colleagues in the media as you are helping us. So we have not had a need as at now to introduce any sanctions.

However, he stated that "Should it become necessary at some point, that we consider either what has been done I think in places like Israel or other places, where they will say if you haven't taken the vaccine you can't attend a public programme".

"If you haven't taken the vaccine I think in Dubai, you have to do a PCR test at your own cost every week or something, Should it become necessary that we get there, we would advise accordingly but for now, we are happy at the level of encouragement and volunteering with which people are stepping up and taking it," he stated.

His comment has since been miscommunicated to the general public but the general public has been advised to ignore such false publications.

The ministry has however urged Ghanaians to take the vaccine to reduce the risk of getting infected with Covid-19.