President Nana Akufo-Addo has said the current shortage of some childhood vaccines in the country is of great concern to him.

This shortage, if prolonged, according to the President, will affect negatively Ghana’s Childhood Immunisation Programme, which has been recognised as one of the most successful in the world.

“The WHO has only recently expressed worry about a steady decline in measles vaccination coverage globally, because of the concentration on the fight against COVID-19.

“In accordance with our desire not to become part of this global trend, Government has taken steps to ensure that stocks of these vaccines are procured and supplied, as a matter of emergency,” the President told Parliament on Wednesday, 8 August 2023, in his State of the Nations Address.

 The Ghana Health Service, he noted, has developed an elaborate programme to catch up on children who have missed their vaccinations immediately stocks arrive.

Nana Akufo-Addo encouraged all parents and caregivers to ensure that eligible children are vaccinated, once this programme begins adding that “No child should be denied access to vaccination.”

He reiterated what the Health Minister Kweku Agyeman-Manu said at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, 7 March 2023 that “Mercifully, so far, not a single child has died as a result of the outbreak.”

He said Parliament has already passed into law the National Vaccine Institute Bill, which is yet to be brought for his assent.

In the near future, he noted, this Institute will ensure that, no matter what happens to the global vaccine supply chain, “we can produce our own vaccines locally.”