Minority Mad AT Government For Failure To Buy Covid Vaccines -No-Show For US$ 420 million Vaccine Money

The Minority Parliamentarians are livid with the Akufo Addo administration not buying a single COVID-19 vial despite having been allocated some US$420 million for the purpose.

Ghana is targeting to vaccinate at least 20 million Ghanaians with an order for some 42 million doses of the vaccine, but according to the Minority, even though the Ghanaians parliament in the 2021 budget estimates approved the allocation of $420 million for the procurement of 42 million jabs of Covid-19 vaccines for deployment by the end of this year, the Akufo Addo administration has refused to act.

“We find it rather unfortunate that after provisions were made in this year’s budget for the procurement of vaccines and the assurance of President Akufo-Addo, not a single vaccine has been procured by the government for Ghanaians,” Minority Spokesperson on Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said on Sunday.

Addressing the press, Mr. Mintah Akandoh questioned why the government has failed to meet the 8 weeks deadline to administer the second dose for people who took the first jab of the controversial AstraZeneca vaccine in March 2021.

 “…This has the potential to make some desperate Ghanaians procure from unauthorized sources substandard jabs of Covid-19 vaccines in order to extend the protections they have after taking their first jabs,” Akandoh warned.

 “Government should also provide adequate funding for medical research agencies to conduct clinical trials on the various vaccines in the country. We cannot continue to depend on generic research results on the impact of vaccines on general populations. We must conduct our own localised research in order to have country-specific results that will inform our strategy and tactical development,” Akandoh suggested.

Meanwhile, the whereabouts of the US$ 420 million allocated for the vaccines is unknown.