By Linda Naa Deide Aryeetey/ Praise Adoghe
Accra, Oct. 6, GNA – Ghana is out of stock of Pentavalent, Rota, Yellow Fever vaccine and vitamin A for routine childhood immunisation.
Dr Kwame Amponsa- Achiano, Programme Manager, Expanded Programme on Immunisation, said as of October 3, the national cold room had no stock of the essential vaccines.
“Even though we are expecting some vaccines to be released soon, we still have issues with Pentavalent PCV, Rota virus, yellow fever vaccine and vitamin A…, ” he said.
Dr Amponsa- Achiano said this at a meeting held in Accra on Friday to discuss best ways to finance immunisation in Ghana in 2029 and beyond as Ghana transitions towards a sustainable domestic financing for immunisation.
Ghana is due to transition out of GAVI support by 2030 in line with the vaccine Alliance transition policy.
The policy aims to move countries from development assistance to domestic financing of immunisation programmes.
Dr Amponsa- Achiano said the lack of a dedicated funding for vaccination operational activities had led to the periodic shortage of vaccines amidst Ghana’s transition to self-finance immunisation.
He said Ghana’s vaccination drive had been challenged with inadequate funds for timely vaccine procurement and payment of co-financing, contributing to inequity in vaccine coverage among districts.
“We have been burdened with managing multiple outbreaks and this goes beyond the EPI, we have had high multiple numbers of unimmunised children and in urban, peri-urban areas and hard to reach communities especially along the volta basin, this requires additional funding support,” he said.
The EPI Programme Manager said as Ghana transited, it would lose opportunities for certain grants, there would be limited access to timely supplies and logistic and inequitable delivery of vaccines.
He said the transition would also affect the additional introduction of vaccines and cause an increase in the cost of vaccines and that the country was likely to record high numbers of unvaccinated persons.
Dr. Anarfi Asamoah Baah, a former Deputy Director- General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said the country needed a clear financing mechanism and a solid immunisation programme that reached everyone.
“Immunisation is cost effective, but it’s not cheap and it is not a one off expenditure, it’s a recurrent expenditure so, our financing mechanism must be sustainable and reliable,” he said.
Dr Baah said Ghana needed a motivated health workforce with regular capacity building as immunisation evolved.
“We also need a transparent system for procurement to enable us account for results and resources, we need an information system that allows us to monitor progress and performance to communicate to the public,” he said.
Dr Baah called for an aggressive community mobilisation mechanism and communication strategy to deal with misinformation, disinformation, and vaccine hesitancy.
The Health Minister, Dr Kwaku Agyeman- Manu, in a speech read on his behalf, said as Ghana positioned itself as a major local vaccine manufacturer, there was a need for a roadmap to ensure financial stability to provide a boost for vaccine equity and access.
“The objective is to start manufacturing vaccines from 2025, and to manufacture 600 million doses of various vaccines yearly, this will include the production of malaria, HPV, pneumonia, rotavirus, and cholera vaccines, ” he said.
GNA