President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed outrage concerning rumours that taking jabs to inoculate against Covid-19 is a ploy by the ruling party to get more votes in the next general elections.
“Contrary to the mischief being peddled by some , getting vaccinated will not cause you to vote for the NPP in the 2024 elections, if you do not want to.
“This is an outrageous claim.
“Vaccination cannot change your political preferences. That is not its purpose.”
President Akufo-Addo expressed these sentiments on Wednesday, December 15 when he addressed the nation in his 27th Update on the coronavirus pandemic since it hit the country on Thursday, March 12, 2020.
Exactly a year later, the country embarked on a mass vaccination of its adult populace, albeit with disruptions in vaccine procurement.
But enough vaccines have been procured recently with December declared by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) as Vaccination Month.
However, vaccine hesitancy has been a major worry to officials as rumours spread over side events of the exercise.
While some claim getting the jab could make men impotent, in the Krobo areas residents said it would get other political party followers vote for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2024 elections.
This is what President Akufo-Addo sought to clarify.
“Let me state, as clearly as I can. The vaccines are safe.
“They will not harm you. They will protect you and your family.”
So far, 17.7 million of varying vaccines have been procured by government with about 8.7 million expected in the country by the end of December.
“There are significant quantities of vaccines deployed to every corner of the country. We have, thus, declared the month of December as vaccination month, and we are rolling out an aggressive campaign of vaccination, so that as many Ghanaians as possible have the opportunity to be vaccinated.
“It is a race against time but we determined to accomplish it.”
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana