Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia has taken the COVAX COVID-19 vaccine jab in public.

He was vaccinated at the Police Hospital in Accra together with his wife, Samira Bawumia today, Monday, 1 March 2021.

Earlier in the morning, President Akufo-Addo took the first jab with his wife, Rebecca Akufo-Addo at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.

Key public officials such as the Speaker and Members of Parliament, the Chief Justice and Justices of the Superior Court of Judicature, Chairperson and members of the Council of State, the Chief of Staff and senior officials at the Office of the President, and prominent personalities like some eminent clergy, the National Chief Imam, the Asantehene, the Ga Mantse, and some media practitioners are also expected to take the COVID-19 jab publicly on Tuesday, 2 March 2021.

Ghana received its first consignment of some 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines on 24 February 2021, through the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX).

Delivering his 24th COVID-19 national address on Sunday, 28 February 2021, President Akufo-Addo listed the categories of people who will benefit from the first 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines as follows:

"Through the National Vaccine Deployment Plan, our population has been segmented into four groups, and this will determine which section of the population gets vaccinated at a particular time.

Group 1 is categorised as “persons most at risk and frontline State officials”. It includes healthcare workers, frontline security personnel, persons with underlying medical conditions, persons sixty (60) years and above, and frontline members of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.

Group 2 is made up of other essential service providers and the rest of the security agencies. It includes water and electricity supply services, teachers and students, supply and distribution of fuels, farmers and food value chain, telecommunications services, air traffic and civil aviation control services, meteorological services, air transport services, waste management services, media, public and private commercial transport services, the Police Service, Armed Forces, Prisons Service, Immigration Service, National Fire Service, CEPS Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, and other members of the Executive, Judiciary, and Legislature.

Group 3 consists of the rest of the general public that is all persons over eighteen (18) years, except for pregnant women. The final group, that is Group 4, will include pregnant mothers and persons under the age of eighteen (18), and they will be vaccinated when an appropriate vaccine, hopefully, is found, or when enough safety data on the present vaccines is available. Special arrangements will be made for persons with disabilities who fall within these groups”, he said.