President Akufo-Addo has implored Western countries to avoid using COVID-19 vaccines as a means of controlling entry to their countries.
According to him, such a move is not only a retrogressive step but very unfortunate.
Addressing the 76th General Assembly of the United Nations High-Level in New York, the USA on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, the Ghanaian leader queried why the Indian manufactured AstraZeneca vaccines donated to African countries was not recognised by some European nations.
“One unfortunate development appears to be the recent measures of entry into some countries in Europe, which suggest that Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India, is not recognised by these countries.”
“What is intriguing is the fact that this vaccine was donated to African countries through the COVAX facility. The use of vaccines as a tool for immigration control will be a truly regressive step,” he added.
The President further affirmed that, Ghana has so far received five million doses, which have been administered to frontline health workers and those classified as being most at risk.
“Five million is not a figure to be sneered at, particularly when we consider the situation in many other African countries. We are grateful that our efforts at the management of the pandemic and vaccine distribution have been recognised, and we have received these amounts so far. We are still hoping to vaccinate twenty million of our people by the end of the year,”.
