Tema West MP promotes coronavirus vaccination

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Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, Member of Parliament Tema West Constituency, has joined a section of the public to promote participation in the COVID-19 vaccination exercise and to instil public confidence.

He said the vaccines were critical to the prevention and control of COVID-19 and a vital tool in the national fight against the spread of the virus.

He called on the qualified constituents to take the vaccines.

Mr Ahenkorah said the government through the Ministry of Health had made progress in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 although daily infections have recently increased.

He emphasized that the vaccines were safe and efficient and the surest way to get immunity against the virus.

The MP, who joined his spouse and other eligible persons in the Municipality to take their first jab, in an interview with Ghana News Agency at Sakumono near Tema, called on leaders to assuage the fears of the public and take the vaccination.

He said some naysayers had sought to heighten fears and downplayed the incredible efforts and strides made by the government in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

“With the proliferation of media, particularly social media, fake news has become rife and some people post just about anything with careless abandon, but if you interrogate and analyze the issues, you will realise that such information is just meant to mislead the public,” he said.

“These particular vaccines have come at the right time and for the right purpose to curtail the rate of infection,” he said.

He said the vaccines met the Food and Drugs Authority’s rigorous scientific standards for safety and effectiveness.

He said the Ghana Health Service and the National Commission for Civic Education must step up education on the safety of the vaccines to fight the unfounded claims on social media about the vaccines.

“If you have suffered the vagaries of COVID-19, lost a relative or a friend, then there shouldn’t be any hesitance to take the vaccine meant not only to protect yourself from the impact of the virus but persons close to you,” Mr Ahenkorah said.

He applauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the show of leadership in publicly taking the vaccines to prove their safety.

Out of the 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines deployed in 43 districts identified as epicentres of the pandemic in the country, some 7,500 doses (750 vials) of the vaccines were delivered to the Tema West Municipality for the first phase of the exercise.

By: GNA