Programme Manager for the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Kwame Amponsah–Achiano says he is optimistic that the enforcement of the ‘no vaccination, no access to restaurants’ will be successful.
The Programmes Manager said that enforcement of this law will be based on collective efforts and as such he is positive that this rule will yield results.
Speaking to Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he expressed: “When it comes to policy implementation such as this, it is not just about the health service. It is in collaboration with the security services. It is about intersectoral collaboration. GFA will have to be on board if it is about the stadium, the security service will also be involved.”
He added that to ensure that many are vaccinated before the policy implementation, the Ghana Health Service is allowing many people to be vaccinated before January 2022.
As part of measures to ensure that more people are vaccinated against COVID-19 in Ghana, the government is in the process of introducing a policy to deny persons without vaccination certificates access to entertainment centres.
The yet-to-be-implemented directive comes on the back of the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the wake of the new variant, Omicron, detected in the country.
Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu announced this at a media engagement in Accra on Wednesday, December 1, 2021.
He said going forward, verification of COVID-19 vaccination cards “is going to be mandatory” before people “visit the following venues; nightclubs, beaches, sports stadiums and restaurants.”
“For all those who want to visit indoor restaurants, they should be vaccinated because we will have a way to check their vaccination cards. This Christmas, if you want to go out and enjoy yourself, you need to go with your vaccination cards. These are things we are introducing at this time, and we will give the specific dates that this will be effective from early January. So we have about three to four weeks to ensure that everyone is vaccinated for these measures to be in force.”
