Tema Aug. 19, GNA – Confusion has rocked the Mante-Din Drive Vaccination Centre in Tema Community One as people queued to take their shots of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday.
The confusion was a result of some people trying to manoeuvre their way to join a queue in spite of the fact that those who had already formed the queue had been given identification numbers for their shots.
It was also observed that some individuals had queued for about five persons at ago, therefore, ‘vaccination vigilantes’ who decided not to allow anyone from outside to join the queue evoked the confusion, the Ghana News Agency observed.
Some of the aggrieved persons told the GNA at the venue near the Tema Sports Stadium that, “we do not understand why people would be at home while others stay all day in the queue only for them to emerge when it is just about your turn to attempt to bypass you”.
GNA observed that the main queue, which had less than 50 people was at a standstill for about two hours because people who couldn’t take their jabs the previous day because they had run out of vaccines, were being taking care of.
The health official noted that on Wednesday, they run out of stock, “so we decided to give numbers to all those who have stayed in the queue the whole to return on Thursday for the jab, but when they came over with their numbers, others attempted to prevent them from joining the queue based on their numbers”.
The Health Officials, therefore, appealed to the public to exercise restraint and allow the officials to manage the vaccination exercise assuring the public that the exercise is not a one-off event.
In a related incident, about two and a half hours delay at the Bethel Hospital Vaccination centre also sparked agitation as some of the individuals exhibited their displeasure for the late arrival of the vaccination and lateness exhibited by some of the health officials.
Dr. Sally D. Quartey, Tema Metro Director of Health Service attributed the seemingly delays at some centers to the restrictive protocols in handling the Johnson and Johnson Vaccine from the main Tema General Hospital to respective centres.
She said there were strict measures to follow on how to take it out within a certain temperature, meaning after certain hours’ vaccines not used must be discarded but at this stage, health officials are careful to ensure judicious usage and avoid wastage.
Dr. Quartey said, “because everyone is so anxious to take the vaccine, which sometimes creates the agitation, we are working round the clock to help them understand the process.”
GNA