Vaccine Shortage: Medicines Used To Immunise Babies Against Polio, Measles And Other Diseases Become Scarce

• There are reports of a shortage of BCG vaccines used to treat infant diseases like polio, TB, and measles among others across the country
• An investigative report by Daily Graphic on February 23, 2023, said the shortage of vaccines has hit almost all 16 regions across the country prompting fears of a return of the deadly infant diseases
• Health minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu has been summoned to appear before the legislative committee on health over the matter

Health facilities across Ghana have been hit by a shortage of some common but critical vaccines used for routine immunisation of babies from birth to about 18 months.

According to an investigative report by the state-owned Daily Graphic newspaper, the shortage of vaccines in almost all 16 regions across the country, exposes infants to the diseases such as Meningitis, polio, measles, and whooping cough, among others.

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"Under the routine vaccination programme, Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB) disease; oral polio vaccine 0 (OPV); Measles-Rubella; Meningitis and Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) are administered," the report explained.

The newspaper said after sending its reporters to health facilities in the Greater Accra, Western, Central, Upper West, Bono, Eastern and Upper East regions, it found that the BCG shortage is quite severe.

The investigation started after reports in January 2023 that since June 2022, there has been an erratic supply of vaccines in the regions of the north.

"The Central Hospital in Tamale closed down its Paediatric Unit last year due to an outbreak of measles," the Daily Graphic reported on February 23, 2023.

In the Central Region, health workers disclosed that the problem is not a scarcity of BCG vaccines but BCG syringes.

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Health minister to appear in Parliament over shortage

Meanwhile, the health minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu has been summoned to appear before the legislative committee on health over the reports.

On Tuesday, February 28, 2023, the minister will brief the committee on the nationwide vaccine shortage.

Also invited are the Ghana Health Service (GHS) bosses and other stakeholder institutions over the matter.

Botched Sputnik V saga soiled my hard-earned reputation

In a separate story, YEN.com.gh reported that the health minister lamented when the Sputnik V scandal broke and tainted his good reputation.

Kwaku Agyeman Manu said he was shredded into tatters when the issue came up and expressed disappointment in how badly he was treated in the media.

“Mr. Speaker, I am so amazed. When I was rushing to get some vaccines to do vaccinations quickly to meet our development targets, I was found culpable of not coming to Parliament and I was lambasted to the extent that now I don’t have any image in this country,” he said.

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Source: YEN.com.gh