Vaccine hesitancy: We would make process mandatory if necessary – Health Service

Ghana continues to vaccinate its population

A number of people have hesitated from taking the vaccine jabs

As of November 18, 2021, only 3,493,688 people have so far been vaccinated

With some experts expressing worry over some Ghanaians showing hesitation in getting the novel Coronavirus vaccines currently available in the country, the Ghana Health Service has stated that it would not hesitate to make the exercise a mandatory thing.

This, the Service has said, could be employed in an attempt to achieve the herd immunity that the government intends even as it projects to vaccinate about 20 million Ghanaians by December this year, asaaseradio.com has reported.

As of November 18, 2021, only 3,493,688 people have so far been vaccinated across the country.

Already, there have been a number of Ghanaians refusing to take the jabs, a situation that the experts believe could derail the government’s effort to contain the virus as well as its spread across the country.

The Director-General of the GHS, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, explained that should the need arise, a recommendation for the vaccination exercise to be made mandatory will be done.

“Yes, I am sure that with time we will get there and it is something that we have to [do] to bring this pandemic under control and we need to ensure that almost everybody is protected. And if it comes to that I think we will not hesitate to recommend that.

“We have companies in this country that have mandated that if you have not vaccinated, you can’t come to work… we have to bring the virus under control, we need to ensure that everybody is protected,” he said.

Earlier, the Ghana Health Service announced to the attention of the public that it would begin the vaccination of 15-year-old students and above with the Pfizer vaccines in schools across the country.

This follows the Food and Drugs Authority’s authorization of the vaccine to be administered to the students within the age bracket.