The Ministry of Health has dismissed reports that some babies have died from the measles outbreak due to the unavailability of vaccines.
Several parts of the country have been hit with a shortage of vaccines in the last few months despite claims by the National Health Insurance Authority that over GH¢70 million has been released for the procurement of vaccines.
The situation became worse in February after major health facilities in most regions turned away nursing mothers away due to the erratic supply of vaccines including measles, polio and tetanus.
Addressing the press on Tuesday, the sector minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu said reports that some deaths have been recorded are completely untrue.
“It is important to correct the erroneous impression that there have been deaths from Measles in Ghana recently. For the avoidance of doubt, there have been no deaths from the recently recorded spike in Measles cases. Indeed, there have been no deaths since 2003 though we have recorded cases annually.”
The Minister also assured that some essential childhood vaccines will be available in a few weeks.
“The recent shortage in Vaccines for measles, as regrettable as it is, is symptomatic of the steady global decline in measles vaccination since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic.
“Working with UNICEF, we are fast-tracking the processes, and it is expected that the vaccines would be supplied in the next few weeks All things being equal.”
