From October this year, all newborns will be vaccinated against Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) at birth, the Programme Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), Dr Kwame Amponsah-Achiano, has stated.

According to him, the purpose of the administration of the vaccine was to help curb mother-to-child HBV transmission and would be administered within 24 hours.

Dr Amponsah-Achiano said this at a National Hepatitis B birth dose stakeholders forum held in Accra yesterday to provide stakeholders the opportunity to make valuable input into the implementation of the Hepatitis B birth dose programme by the government.

The forum was co-hosted by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Hepatitis Foundation of Ghana. He explained that the Hepatitis B birth dose programme was part of the commitment of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to combat the Hepatitis B, improve public health, and achieve broader health goals by 2030.

Furthermore, Dr Amponsah-Achiano said that the government was adequately prepared to roll out the administration of the HBV vaccines for babies at birth within 24 hours.

According to him, the Ministry of Health recently developed a plan towards ensuring Ghana self-finances her immunisation programmes as the country transitions from Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) vaccine support by 2030.

Dr Amponsah-Achiano said that the government had updated the country's immunisation policy and the EPI Field Guide to reflect Hepatitis B birth dose vaccines.

In addition, he said that the government had updated data recording and reporting tools at the Ministry of Health to reflect the Hepatitis B birth dose vaccination, while the application submitted to GAVI for the introduction of "Hepatitis B birth dose into routine immigration programmes" had been approved.

"Hepatitis B vaccine is not new, but what we are introducing now is the one that we will give to a child who is newly born so that we can prevent the mother-to-child transmission.

It's been on the drawing board for many years, but fortunately, we have the green light to bring it on board to complete the recommendation of three doses minimum by the World Health Organisation, including the birth dose," Dr Amponsah-Achiano said.

For his part, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Professor Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, in a speech read on his behalf by the Managing Director of the Ghana Infectious Disease Centre, Dr Joseph Adjetey Oliver-Commey, highlighted the importance of immunisation in ensuring that the country minimised the mother-to-child HBV transmission.

Professor Akoriyea also stressed the need for the country to leverage collective expertise, resources and prioritise capacity-building to enable her to achieve the objectives of the immunisation of babies against HBV and prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus.