Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, Programme Manager, Expanded Programme on Immunization, Ghana Health Service, has said 30,500 Ghanaians have been vaccinated against the Coronavirus as of March 3, 2021.

“Out of this, about 16,990 of them are males while 13,450 are females,” he said.

He said this in an interview with the media on the sidelines of the National Delegates Congress of Community Health Nurses, Ghana (CHNG) in Accra on Thursday, March 4, 2021.

The three-day delegate congress, organised by the CHNG and the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, was to elect substantive leaders to run the affairs of the community health nurses.

It was under the theme: “Harnessing Community Nurses’ Prospects, Fulcrum to Attain Preventive Health as a Nation.”

Dr. Amponsa-Achiano, a guest speaker at the event, was elated about the turnout for the vaccination exercise saying it has so far been impressive.

He commended Ghanaians for coming out in their numbers to patronize the vaccines.

“Initially because of the hesitancy and conspiracy theories, we were a bit skeptical and cautiously hopeful, but the turnout has been impressive,” he said.

He, however, attributed the high turnout to the sensitization exercise undertaken by the GHS prior to the enrolment of the exercise.

He further disclosed that about 11,500 frontline health workers had also been vaccinated.

Ghana, on February 24, took delivery of 600,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from the COVAX facility for free.

The Government of Ghana is looking to vaccinate about 20 million of the population against the virus.

Dr Amponsa-Achiano said the GHS was considering extending the duration of the exercise from seven to 14 days due to some challenges including tablet malfunctions and overcrowding witnessed in some districts and regions.

“Initially, we hope to complete the first phase within 7-days but due to some challenges witnessed in some districts and regions, we intend to extend the duration by seven more days,” he explained.

He commended frontline health workers, particularly community health nurses, for their selfless effort to the delivery of healthcare in hard-to-reach communities across the country.