The Ghana Health Service (GHS) will soon resume the vaccination of students against COVID-19 in senior high schools across the country.
“Vaccination teams have been dispatched to the schools to vaccinate students who have not yet been vaccinated. Students who have already been vaccinated are required to bring their vaccination cards to school for inspection,” a joint statement released by the GHS and the Ghana Education Service (GHS) said.
It requested the “cooperation of parents and all stakeholders to make this exercise a success.”
The GHS, in collaboration with the GES, commenced the vaccination of students who fall within the eligibility criteria but suspended the exercise during the vacation period.
The GHS had received approval from the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to include 15-year-olds in the vaccination exercise.
This followed the approval “for extending the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to cover children from 15 years and above.”
Initially, only persons above 17 years were given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
A statement issued by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and signed by its Director-General, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, noted that “as part of measures at halting the spread of COVID-19 in schools and among the general public, the Ghana Health Service has planned to vaccinate all children aged 15 years and above as soon as possible to increase their level of protection against COVID-19.”
The letter urged all Regional and District Directors of education to “work closely with their colleague Regional and District Directors of Health to facilitate the vaccination of all 15 years or older in schools across the country.”
