By: Roberta Gayode Modin
Minister for Health, Kwaku Agyemang Manu has refuted claims by the Minority that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) has threatened to withdraw the supply of vaccines to Ghana due to debt owned by the Ministry of Health.
According to him, the allegation is a fabrication of the Minority to politicize the unfortunate event of the vaccine shortage.
“The irony of this is that we have brought a lot of politics into this very national matter. Fortunately, I’m a member of the GAVI board so the type of things my colleague is talking about can never be true and mark it somewhere”, Mr. Agyeman Manu said in a press briefing organized by the Ministry of Information.
Contrary to the claims, the Minister of Health hinted that GAVI has selected Ghana to host one of its board meetings.
He also debunked rumours that Ghana has recorded some deaths from the recent spike in Measles cases due to vaccine shortage.
“It is important to correct the erroneous impression that there have been deaths from Measles in Ghana recently. For the avoidance of doubt, there have been no deaths from the recently recorded spike in Measles cases. Indeed there have been no deaths since 2003, though we have recorded cases annually,” the Health Minister said.
He also assured Ghanaians that the Ministry of Health is in talks with UNICEF to fast-track the procurement of the vaccines and it is set to arrive a in few weeks.
