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.

According to him, Ghana's Public Health Act 2012 (851) mandates the government 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.

His comment is in response to concerns raised as to whether the mandatory vaccination directive issued by government is not in violation of the human rights of individuals.

Speaking on Saturday, December 11, 2021, he noted that he had observed a lot of rumpus going around on how mandatory vaccination infringes on the rights of people, but while addressing these concerns, he expressed the view that in a pandemic situation like this there's a need to make decisions in the best interest of the general public and not just a few.

"There's a need to prioritise the public health mandate of the managers of the public health system over the human rights of individuals," he said.

The Ghana Health Service has made some modifications to its protocols regarding foreign travel through the Kotoka International Airport. The Service deems it necessary based on the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the wake of the new Omicron variant.

“The current increase in cases together with the detection of the Omicron variant among international arrivals and the expected increase during the festive season, call for urgent actions to prevent a major surge in Covid-19 cases in Ghana,” GHS said in a December 9 statement.

On the back of this, the GHS has directed that all persons 18 years and above arriving in Ghana from December 12 must provide proof of full vaccination.

Meanwhile, “all unvaccinated Ghanaians and residents who are currently outside the country and intend to return within 14 days from the midnight of 12th December, 2021 are exempted.”

This group, however, will be vaccinated on arrival at the airport.

According to the press release signed by GHS boss, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, out of the 34 cases detected at the airport, 75% of them were unvaccinated persons.

“Over the last two weeks, cases from the airport account for about 60% of the total cases recorded in the country,” he added.