President Akufo-Addo has made an appeal to world leaders not to use the COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination as a tool for immigration control, as that will be retrogressive.
Addressing the 76th United Nations General Assembly in New York, the President said it is unfortunate that some countries, especially in Europe, are not recognizing vaccinations with the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured in India.
His main concerns stem from the fact that many African countries received the vaccine through the COVAX facility.
“One unfortunate development appears to be the recent measures on entering into some countries in Europe which suggests that Covidshield, the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India, are not recognized by these countries,” he said.
“What is intriguing is the fact that this vaccine was donated to African countries through the COVAX facility. The use of vaccines as a tool for immigration control will be a truly retrogressive step. The last time there was such an upheaval in the world was during the second world war, which led to the establishment of a new world order,” he added.
There have been several reports of extra scrutiny of persons who received the AstraZeneca jabs in Europe.
In some instances, the vaccination certificates of such persons were not accepted.
But President Akufo-Addo said such a measure must be done away with.
Ghana has administered more than one million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine with only about half of the population receiving the mandatory two jabs.
In August, an additional 249,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines were received through the COVAX facility.
AstraZeneca was the first vaccine to arrive in Ghana earlier this year when the country heightened its efforts to beat COVID-19.
So far, Ghana has vaccinated over 3 million of the entire population, but the President says the target of 20 million is still on course.
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