The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye has reiterated his advice to persons eligible to take the second jab of the AstraZeneca COVID- 19 vaccine not to rush to vaccination centres.

He urged them to be patient and avoid overcrowding as the government is doing all it can to get everyone vaccinated.

Dr. Kuma-Aboagye was speaking during an interview on Accra based Peace FM on the ongoing vaccination exercise being undertaken across the country from August 31 to September 4.

About 249,600 doses of COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine received under the COVAX facility will be administered.

AstraZeneca 2nd jab begins next week

More vaccines

Giving assurances of the government's efforts to vaccinate the majority of the population, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said Ghana will be receiving some one million doses next month to help the country reach its target of vaccinating 20 million of the adult population by the end of the year.

“We will be receiving one million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines next month, and so that will go beyond the backlog of second jab and enough to start first dose for other people.

“So far we will have about 580,000 persons waiting for the second dose. We will be administering the dose to persons who received their first dose from the March 10 to 29", he said.

Vaccination exercise

Dr. Kuma-Aboagye urged persons eligible for the vaccine to partake in the five-day exercise, reminding them to bring along a valid national ID card and their COVID-19 Vaccination Card for the exercise.

Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said all the COVID-19 safety protocols will be observed at the vaccination centres, and urged those to participate to adhere to the protocols.