Government has been urged by the Minority Caucus in Parliament to consider entering into Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreements with the private sector to source COVID-19 vaccines for Ghanaians.
Speaking at a media engagement, Ranking Member on the Select Committee on Health in Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, opined that if government is finding it difficult to fund the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, government should involve the private sector.
“The health needs of Ghanaians must remain paramount in all considerations of this government, and failure is not an option. If funding is becoming a challenge for government, it should consider partnering the private sector in a PPP arrangement to source for these vaccines and supply them for the general public,” stated Mr Mintah Akandoh.
His assertion follows the delay in arrival of vaccines to cover the country’s population as a measure to curb the infection and spread of the virus, as well as prevent a third wave of the virus from hitting the country.
According to the Minority, it is not enough to rely heavily on donor partners to vaccinate Ghanaians, as it raises serious concerns over the capacity and competence of government to deliver on its promises in the fight against the virus; hence the need to deploy several other means to procure the vaccines.
“We therefore urge government to get back to the drawing board and put in place an effective plan that is not highly dependent on one manufacturer, and procure the 17.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in order to meet the president’s June deadline.”
Meanwhile, the Minority has also expressed concerns about the delay in arrival of the second doses of vaccines which are expected to be administered to those who took the first jabs.
Touching on the issue, Mr Akandoh averred, “Ghanaians were informed that the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines would provide a high level of protection for about eight weeks, by which time another consignment would have arrived to ensure administration of a second jab for persons who had already received the first jab.”
“It was expected that the vaccines would have arrived before April 28 so that those who had taken their first jabs could take their second, and those who had not been vaccinated would get the opportunity to be vaccinated.”
“However, as we speak, not one additional dose of AstraZeneca vaccine has arrived – putting Ghanaians who had already received the first jab at risk of losing the partial immunity they have acquired through the vaccination.”
According to the Ghana Health Service, a total of 703,752 Ghanaians since the mass vaccination exercise on March 2, 2021, have received their first jab of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility.
Estimates from the 2021 budget statement indicates that an allocation of $420million has been made for the procurement of 42 million doses of vaccine targetted at vaccinating 20 million Ghanaians by end of 2021.
