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On Saturday, March 11, 2023, the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service took delivery of the first consignment of vaccines.
More vaccines are expected in Ghana in the coming weeks from multiple sources.
This comes days after the sector minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, assured the nation on the floor of Parliament about the shipment of the vaccines.
Ghana has been experiencing shortages of some childhood vaccines, a situation that has attracted attention from different quarters, including Parliament and the Paediatric Society of Ghana.
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Ablakwa adding his voice to the shortage of vaccines in the country urged the government to be transparent with Ghanaians.
In a Facebook post, he attributed the shortages that have put many newborns in danger to the government's incompetence and blatant disregard for the World Health Organization's warning sometime in July 2022.
He said the "consignment came in from Nigeria as a benevolent gesture which the Ghanaian government has promised to replace when it finally puts its house in order. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying THANK YOU to a neighbour who exhibits superior public health policies, better prioritization, and who responds positively and swiftly when you come begging."
"Ghanaian officials should not be concealing this fact and therefore appearing ungrateful within the comity of nations even though I acknowledge that an honest and transparent narrative from the government will further expose false claims by President Akufo-Addo during his Message on the State of the Nation last week that childhood vaccine shortage was a global phenomenon," Ablakwa added.
He further stressed that "Ghana's childhood vaccine crisis could have been prevented if the Akufo-Addo government had not ineptly ignored WHO stock-out warnings since July last year.
"We must be profoundly grateful to Nigeria for their kindness, however, I do hope the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration will find a permanent solution as the Nigerian donation can only last for 6 weeks."
Meanwhile, Tamale Teaching Hospital has reportedly recorded 5 suspected measles death.