Over 100 unvaccinated passengers arriving at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) were forced to participate in a mandated vaccination exercise on Tuesday, December 14, 2021.
The single-shot Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was given to these people. The immunization was carried out in accordance with the Ghana Health Service’s instructions (GHS)
Following the discovery of the Omicron form of the Sars CoV-2, the directive is part of a revamped routine for those entering the nation through the KIA.
According to a story in the Daily Graphic, Dr Lawrence Lartey, the Head of Port Health at KIA, verified the jabbing practice on December 14.
According to him, the vaccine was done as part of the updated policy for unvaccinated Ghanaians who arrived in the country.
He further stated that the Ghanaians who were vaccinated were returning from other West African countries and implied that the vaccination exercise would continue for the next couple of weeks per the mandatory vaccine policy of the Ghana Health Service.
Background
Per the GHS directive, airlines that bring passengers who are not fully vaccinated to the KIA shall be surcharged $3,500 per passenger.
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Passengers, are however required to present evidence of having filled Ghana’s Health Declaration Form (HDF) at www.ghs-hdf.org at the point of embarkation, and airlines that bring passengers to the KIA without the passengers having filled out the HDF will also be surcharged $3,500 per passenger.
So far, no airline has been surcharged for bringing in unvaccinated persons, and according to Dr. Lartey, the directive to surcharge such persons, would be implemented in the coming weeks.
Head of Port Health at KIA noted that, unvaccinated Ghanaians and residents of Ghana who were currently outside the country and intended to return within 14 days from yesterday, December 14, 2021, were exempted from the airline surcharge up to December 28, 2021, but they would be vaccinated on arrival at the airport.
