There are recent reports that a total of 12,780 doses of various COVID-19 vaccines which were found to have expired in November had been destroyed by the Volta Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service.
The Deputy Director of Health in charge of Public Health in the region, Dr Senanu Kwesi Djokoto, disclosing this attributed the expiration of the vaccines to the low acceptance of the coronavirus jab among the populace, especially the youth, in the region.
The Deputy Director is reported to have explained that the vaccines remained in stock until they expired because they were not being administered.
The Health Director goes on further to reveal that the Volta Region has a lower vaccination coverage rate compared to the national average, and this is very unfortunate.
Available records suggest that although the region had so far received 480,000 doses of the various coronavirus vaccines – AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna and Pfitzer – only 259,847 doses had been administered as of December 16, 2021.
The Chronicle finds the attitude of the people in the Volta Region very unpatriotic, to say the least.
We also find the behaviour of the people, especially the youth in the region, very risky, because by refusing to take the vaccine, they are putting the entire nation at risk of contracting and spreading the virus.
To us, at The Chronicle, the action of the people of the Volta Region should be seen as being unpatriotic, and all hands must be put on deck to deal with it decisively.
It is on record that the Volta Region’s population is 1,649,523, according to the 2021 National Census.
However, health officials have said that 202,540 people in the region have so far received, at least, one dose of the vaccine, while only 59,308 have been fully jabbed.
In the opinion of The Chronicle, this is certainly not the best of stories we should be hearing at this crucial time, where countries all over the globe are running against the clock to see to it that their citizens are vaccinated against the deadly virus.
The Chronicle will, therefore, stress the need for the health authorities in the region to urgently adapt an all-hands-on-deck approach to reverse the low vaccine-acceptance trend among the populace.
The Chronicle is very certain that when the traditional and religious authorities, whom the youth respect, various stakeholders, and the media are partake adequately in the education campaign to convince the people to accept the jabs, in their personal and national interests as well, we would receive positive results from the Volta Region next year.
We would like to remind the people in the Volta Region, and other Ghanaians who have been preaching against the vaccines, to revise their notes because the vaccination of citizens remains the sole responsibility of states globally, and backed by laws, and until otherwise determined, every citizen has a civic responsibility to make himself or herself available for the jab.
In the management of states, citizens have limits to their wishes, if that were not the case, there would be chaos the world over.
Let’s all be patriotic in the fight against Covid-19.
Merry Christmas to all Ghanaians!
