The Tano North Municipal Office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has assuaged the fears of parents of the Anglican and Presby Basic Schools in Tano North about the COVID-19 vaccine.
During a COVID-19 public education and sensitization programme facilitated by the Ahafo Acting Regional Director, Mr. Eric Adu, and Mrs.Adiza Gyengyenaa, the Civic Education Officer (CEO), parents stormed the school to take their wards home upon hearing and spotting an NCCE branded COVID-19 vehicle in the community. The parents had received false information that officials had come to inject the school children with a COVID-19 vaccine.
In view of this incident, the NCCE later accepted two PTA Meeting invitations from the two schools which were used to educate the parents on the COVID-19 vaccine. During the PTA meetings, Ahafo Acting Regional Director, Mr. Eric Adu used the occasion to give a chronological history of vaccines as a means to prevent many incurable diseases in the world such as yellow fever, tetanus, rabies, Poliomyelitis, Smallpox, Ebola, Hepatitis A, and B, among others.
He advised parents to seek information from credible sources such as the Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Health, Food and Drugs Authority, the Ghana Standard Authority, and other accredited state institutions as well as professional bodies like the Ghana Medical Association, as there are a plethora of unscrupulous people who have the habit of churning out false information into the public domain just to cause fear and confusion among the citizenry.
The Acting Regional Director also lessened the fears and anxieties of parents on the COVID-19 vaccine. He explained that per the President’s 23rd Address to the Nation, the first consignment of the COVID-19 vaccine is expected in Ghana in March and that consignment would be prioritized for certain categories of people such as health workers, security personnel, the aged, and people with an underlying health condition who are highly at risk of contracting the virus, because of the nature of their work and health status.
Mr. Adu pointed out that per the World Health Organization’s protocols regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, certain categories of persons like pregnant women, foreign travelers, and children below 18 years would not be vaccinated as they are not involved in the clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine.
He further indicated that it is not true that some white people want to eliminate Africans through the COVID-19 vaccine. He appealed to all Ghanaians to have faith in the national vaccination exercise since it is to protect the ultimate interest of Ghana.
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