New travel policies introduced at Kotoka International Airport
Unvaccinated travellers to receive vaccine on arrival at KIA
Amidst the public controversy over governments mandatory COVID-19 policies, another opposition member of parliament has waged support for the compulsory vaccination of persons against COVID-19 in Ghana.
Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor has become the latest opposition MP to back the government’s line of action.
In a tweet sighted by GhanaWeb, Mr Dafeamekpor rooted his support for a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination in the provisions of Section 22(1)(2) of the Public Health Act, 2012, Act 851.
“Pursuant to Section 22(1)(2) of the Public Health Act, 2012, Act 851, I support the Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccination of our people. Covid-19 is truly real & we must take concrete steps to safeguard the Public Health of our people & that must take precedence over Personal Liberties,” the South Dayi MP posted.
Section 22(1) and (2) of the Public Health Act, 2012, Act 851 as referenced by the MP reads;
“22. (1) The Minister may by executive instrument, generally or with
reference to a particular district, area, or place or with respect to a particular class or classes of persons, order the persons to whom the instrument applies who do not produce satisfactory evidence of successful vaccination, to be vaccinated by a public vaccinator, unless in the opinion of the public vaccinator the vaccination would be injurious to health.
“(2) The instrument may prescribe at what age a person is liable to a penalty for non-compliance with the terms of the instrument and who is liable where the person who fails to be vaccinated has not attained that age”.
His declaration comes after his colleague MP in opposition, Samuel Nartey George of Ningo Prampram also described the mandatory vaccination as a sound public health policy which he hopes will be implemented vigorously.
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.
On the back of imported cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 at the Kotoka International Airport, 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.
Public reactions to mandatory vaccination
There have been varying public reactions to government’s 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).
Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson Nelson-Dafeamekpor