The Ashanti Regional Office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has intensified its education to whip up residents’ interest in the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination exercise.

Ms Margaret Konoma, the Acting Regional Director of the NCCE, said it was to ensure the success of the exercise in the region, one of the epicentres in the country.

“We have conducted more than 60 activities recently relating to the NCCE’s engagement with various identifiable stakeholders on the vaccination exercise,” she told the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi.

The Commission had carried out its activities to churches, mosques, bus terminals, media organisations, information centres, and markets, among others, she said.

More than 400,000 Ghanaians have received shots of the Astrazeneca vaccine following the Government’s rollout of a programme to commence the mass vaccination on March 02.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) said the first phase of the exercise was targeting those living in some 43 epicentre-districts in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Central regions.

Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has confirmed the safety of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines in the fight against the coronavirus.
In a recent statement it said: “There has not been any record of blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination in Ghana.”

Ms Konoma said studies had shown that the benefits of the vaccine far outweighed its adverse effects and urged residents to get the vaccination.

Nana Konadu Agyemang of the Regional NCCE Programmes Department said the office had also been sensitising educational institutions and the public on the COVID-19 safety protocols.

“What we have been telling the people is to always wear their nose masks, wash their hands and also apply hand sanitizers when necessary,” she said, and advised those getting vaccinated to continue adhering to the protocols.