Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, has disclosed that the government is considering compulsory vaccination under the Public Health Act as COVID-19 cases spike in many parts of the country.
He told Asaase News on Thursday, December 23, 2021, that compulsory vaccination would be the only option if are getting sick and the hospitals are very choked.
“The Health Minister has already invoked the Public Health Act, but we have not come out publicly to say that we are going to compulsorily vaccinate anybody. We are trying to vaccinate as many people as much as possible, using all sort of ways that we are using to convince the people.
“When the need be, because if for example, a lot of people are getting sick and the hospitals are very choked, and people are dying, I don’t think any government will sit down and watch that to happen,” he said.
READ ALSO: Covid-19: GHS records 1,954 active cases, death toll now 1,263
The Ghana Health Service has said there is a surge in the country's coronavirus case count.
In its latest update, the Service indicated that at least 437 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed pushing the country’s active case count to 1,954.
Deep-seated misconceptions about the vaccines are scuttling Ghana's inoculation timelines and targets, culminating in the expiration of precious vaccines in parts of the country.
Vaccine hesitancy, which is characterised generally by the delay in acceptance or the refusal to take the Covid jabs, is so widespread in Ghana that for the first time, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has ruled out the possibility of meeting the target of vaccinating 15 million Ghanaians by end of this year.
With barely two weeks to end the year, the GHS has been able to fully administer just a little above 3 million jabs – way below the 15 million target.
Meanwhile, there is opposition to a recent directive that makes it mandatory for some public workers to take the jab and another directive that makes it mandatory for persons arriving in Ghana to be fully vaccinated.
Already, the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi and three other Ghanaians have filed a writ at the Supreme Court claiming some of the mandatory protocols for Ghanaians arriving in the country infringe on their fundamental human rights.
Bernard Ackah Blah, Mawuko K. Kwame, Berys Ama Sarpong join Sammy Gyamfi to urge the High Court to declare the directive “that all persons 18 years and above arriving in Ghana will be required to provide evidence of full vaccination for a COVID-19 vaccine at the point of embarkation” an infringement on their right to freedom of movement.