The public has been urged not to allow people to manipulate them into vaccine hesitancy since vaccinations are life savers that cannot be discounted in health. 

Vaccinations have proven to be potent and effective health intervention which has prevented many deaths and disease complications in both the young and the old globally, and that all other claims are myths pushing vaccine hesitancy. 

Dr Emmanuel Addipa-Adapoe, Senior Medical Officer at the Ridge Hospital who made the call to discard all myths surrounding vaccines said they were safe and effective. 

Speaking on Ghana’s experience on the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccine hesitancy at a media engagement on vaccines uptake and launch of the National Media Vaccine Network, he said all vaccines including that of the Covid-19 were safe. 

According to Dr Addipa-Adapoe, Covid-19 remained a threat given the fact that the target of vaccinating 20 million of the Ghanaian population had not been achieved. 

Statistics show that a little over 11 million people were fully vaccinated for Covid-19 as at close of first quarter this year whiles 27 million had at least one dose of any of the Covid-19 vaccines. 

He said Ghana had not achieved the herd immunity against Covid-19, therefore, people should go for the vaccination to protect themselves. 

The National Media Vaccine network was formed as part of a two-day training workshop for journalists on vaccine uptake in Ghana, under the auspices of the Africa Malaria Media Research Network (AMMREN) in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to build media capacities on vaccinations.  

Dr Charity Binka, Executive Secretary of AMMREN, a malaria focused organization urged the media to amplify voices about importance of vaccinations and the critical role it played in preventing diseases, complications, and deaths.