Ablakwa Reveals Source Of Childhood Vaccines 

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has disclosed the consignment of vaccines Ghana received over the weekend was from one of its neighbours.

He said Nigeria offered Ghana the consignments of poliovirus, the BCG and the measles-rubella vaccines the country took stock of.

When the Minister for Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, appeared before Parliament on March 9 he said efforts were underway to secure the supply of the vaccines which were in short supply in the country.

He said they would be available in the country within “two to three weeks” however, two days later, the Ministry of Information announced in a Facebook post the arrival of a consignment. 

Although it failed to communicate the source of the vaccines, it said more was “expected in Ghana in the coming weeks from multiple sources”.

In a Facebook post, the parliamentary representative of North Tongu said the vaccines came from Nigeria.

“The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government should not be embarrassed to admit that it reached out to Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire for urgent bailout on Ghana’s avoidable and indefensible shortage of childhood vaccines.”

He said the Ghanaian government will repay Nigeria after it secures its ordered consignments.

Ablakwa also blamed the government for the shortage.

“Ghana’s childhood vaccine crisis could have been prevented if the Akufo-Addo government had not ineptly ignored WHO stock-out warnings since July last year.”

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini