The Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ghana Health Service (GHS), has declared December 2021 as Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccination month to ensure the implementation of its mandatory vaccination policy from January 2022.

The Minister of Health, Hon. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu said all commercial drivers, all workers in Government Institutions, all health workers, all security personnel, and all students aged 15 and above and staff of secondary and tertiary institutions must be vaccinated before January 2022.

Hon.  Agyeman-Manu also stated that all customers and employees of nightclubs, beaches, sports stadia, and restaurants must be vaccinated and that customers must provide proof of immunization before entering.

In his keynote speech, the health minister announced that vaccines currently being deployed in Ghana namely Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson, and Johnson have received authorization from the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), which makes them safe, effective, free, and offer protection against the COVID-19 virus.

“To assure that the target of vaccination, vaccinating approximately 20 million people in Ghana is achieved, the Government of Ghana through the COVAX facility, bilateral and other multilateral arrangements, has secured over 12 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, which are being deployed across the country”, he disclosed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Ghana, Dr. Francis Kasolo said “it is now the duty of all of us, government, partners, civil societies, traditional and religious leaders, the community and the media to ensure that, as many eligible persons as possible are vaccinated during this month of December.

He also encouraged the media in Ghana to join the fight against Covid-19, say no to misinformation, take every opportunity to provide the community with correct information on Covid-19 and its destruction, and be ambassadors of health in their professional lives.

Ghana has detected its first case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, announced that Ghana has detected its first case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra on Sunday, November 21, 2021, through sequencing.