The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday announced a $24.7million funding to support Ghana’s vaccination efforts.

The funding provided through the Initiative for Global Vaccine Access (Global Vax) is expected to accelerate the delivery of safe and effective Covid-19 vaccinations to all parts of the country.

The Global Vax is a U.S Government effort to contribute to the global goal to vaccinate 70 percent of every country’s population against Covid-19 in 2022.

Madam Janean Davis, who works with USAID as Ghana’s Acting Mission Director, announced the funding.

According to her, the provision of the funds under the Global Vax would incorporate an intensive surge of financial, technical, and diplomatic engagement in countries for rapid progress.

She said in Ghana, the Global Vax would support vaccinators to rapidly deploy vaccines, support public information and demand generation activities.

“We want everyone to know when and where to get vaccines, we also want to address misinformation regarding vaccinations,” she said.

She said the Global Vax would also support Covid-19 data systems to enhance data-informed decision-making and help Ghana’s supply chain to ensure the continuous availability of the Covid-19 vaccine in every community.

“We count on the vaccinators that are here to carry your vaccine boxes over difficult terrain, on boats, motorcycles, camping out in hard-to-reach communities to ensure no one is left behind,” she said.

Madam Davis also called on the health promotion officers who cover the length and breadth of communities to knock on every door to ensure people had the right information to make the right decision.

“We count on the supply chain staff and data managers to ensure that every vial reaches its destination safely,” she said.

She reiterated that Covid-19 vaccines were safe for all persons 15 years and above and protected the community against the virus, stressing, “the bottom line is that the vaccines are safe, effective, and readily available in Ghana.”

She commended pregnant and lactating mothers for taking the vaccines to protect themselves, the babies developing inside of them and the babies they were breastfeeding.

Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye, Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), said it was the responsibility of every individual to protect themselves against the virus by taking the vaccine now that restrictions were lifted.

“Nobody is saying that the virus is gone,” he stressed.

He said Ghana’s vaccination drive had over the period targeted the most vulnerable and high-risk areas and more that 6 million persons vaccinated were in the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions.

“The total number of persons vaccinated in the urban areas is about 62 percent compared to 32 percent of people vaccinated in the rural area, an indication that there are more urban areas where cases were detected,” he said.

Presently, a total of 13,163,059 doses of varied vaccines have been administered out of the over 28 million received.

Dr Kuma Aboagye thanked the USAID for the support in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana, saying, “USAID has supported all the regions in risk communications,
mobilisation, and the supply chain.”