New travel policies introduced at Kotoka International Airport
Unvaccinated travellers to receive vaccine on arrival at KIA
The government of Ghana intends to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory from January 2022.
Ahead of that, the government has already started mandating some categories of persons to be fully vaccinated in order to be able to go about their activities.
The early stage of the mandatory vaccination policy has started with selected groups of people and patrons of selected events.
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye recently announced the categories of people who will be mandated to be vaccinated by next year.
The list includes all workers in government institutions, all commercial drivers and their assistants as well as members of the legislature, executive and judiciary, all healthcare workers, all security personnel and all students and staff of secondary and tertiary institutions.
“These people were those given priority even when the country had only few vaccines, and so we expect all of them to be vaccinated; and with the increasing availability of vaccines, we are declaring December the month for vaccination for those who were not vaccinated to do so,” he said.
On students and venues, Mr Kuma Aboagye said all secondary and tertiary students who are 15 years or above must be vaccinated before school reopened next year. He added that “all staff of such institutions must be vaccinated as well.”
The GHS director who was making the announcement on behalf of the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu added that all patrons and staff of nightclubs, beaches, sports stadia and restaurants must be vaccinated and show proof before being allowed access.
New measures for International travelling at Kotoka International Airport
Efforts by the government to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations comes on the back of the record of the new Omicron variant of the virus in the country.
So far, all the Omicron variant cases recorded in the country were detected at the Kotoka International Airport where the government has introduced yet another stringent list of measures to curb further importation of the virus into the country.
"The expected increase during the festive season calls for urgent actions to prevent a major surge in Covid-19 cases in Ghana," Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye has stated in a statement.
He notes that about 60% of cases recorded over a period in the country have been detected at the airport, making it a hotspot.
In view of that, the government has issued new travel guidelines which is being seen as one of the strictest globally.
The new guidelines include mandatory vaccine requirements for both travellers coming in and going out of the country.
Travellers to Ghana
All persons 18 years-old and above arriving in Ghana will be required to provide evidence of full vaccination for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Meanwhile, existing travel and arrival requirements remain unchanged.
These existing requirements include a 72-hour Negative PCR test requirement prior to travel, completion of the Health Declaration Form as well as a mandatory Antigen testing for all arriving passengers at the airport.
Public reactions to mandatory vaccination
There have been varying public reactions to governments mandatory vaccination policy.
While some people have argued that there should be room for everyone to decide on receiving the vaccine or not, others say it is a matter of public health and cannot become a personal decision.
Some people have argued against the constitutionality of a mandatory vaccination policy while some say the constitution gives room for government to mandate vaccination against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).;
All unvaccinated Ghanaians and residents of Ghana who are currently outside of the country and intend to return within 14 days from midnight December 12, 2021, are exempted. However, they will be vaccinated on arrival at the airport in Ghana.
Travelling out of Ghana
All Ghanaians travelling out of the country are to be fully vaccinated effective midnight December 12, 2021.
Definition of Fully Vaccinated
A person is said to be fully vaccinated when he or she has taken the full dose of vaccines approved and registered by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) of Ghana.
You need two doses of AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna or Sputnik V to be declared as fully vaccinated.
One dose of Johnson and Johnson vaccine is required to be declared fully vaccinated.
The government of Ghana intends to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory