The government has procured over 2.5 million doses of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines.

The vaccines were provided by Denmark and the United States of America through the COVAX Facility.

Representatives of the Ghana government on Wednesday, December 8, received the vaccines at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

According to UNICEF Ghana, these vaccines are to ensure that “we are all protected as we prepare to celebrate the festive season with loved ones.”

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has assured that existing vaccines can combat the new Omicron variant of coronavirus diseases.

WHO’s emergencies director told the AFP news agency, “We have highly effective vaccines that have proved effective against all the variants so far, in terms of severe disease and hospitalisation, and there’s no reason to expect that it wouldn’t be; so for Omicron.”

As part of its measures to protect the lives of Ghanaians, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has made some modifications to its protocols regarding foreign travel through the Kotoka International Airport.

The GHS has directed that persons aged 18 years and above arriving in Ghana from December 12, must provide proof of complete vaccination.

However, “all unvaccinated Ghanaians and residents who are currently outside the country and intend to return within 14 days from the midnight of December 12, are exempted.”

This comes after the Service detected 34 Omicron cases at the airport. About 75 per cent of those who contracted the new variant were unvaccinated, according to the GHS.