In Accra, the capital of Ghana, the Gavi Vaccine Alliance is vaccinating " high-risk populations " by going door-to-door, while most people complain about waiting times at health centers.
Wearing a yellow vest bearing the inscription " Vaccinator ", Doretta Konney moves from house to house with her team in the densely populated fishing community of Chorkor, in Ghana's capital, Accra.
Doretta Konney is part of a grassroots movement to achieve Covid-19 vaccination targets in Ghana, a task that involves convincing vaccine skeptics at a time when the pandemic is no longer dominating global news. For Konney, a community nurse, the work involves visiting nearly 50 households a day to vaccinate between 20 and 40 people, as Ghana aims to vaccinate 20 million people out of a population of 31 million.
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the coronavirus vaccination rate in Africa had increased by 15% thanks to mass vaccination campaigns.
" Most people don't want to get vaccinated because they've heard about...side effects ," explains Konney.
Abigail Otokunor, a 25-year-old student who first got vaccinated when Konney visited her mother's store, said she was skeptical until the mobile vaccination team changed her mind.
" I didn't want to take it because I was afraid of the side effects ," said Otokunor.
15% of the African population vaccinated
According to experts, vaccine uptake rates in Africa are very low and alarming. Last month, the WHO stated that the continent had fully vaccinated only 15% of its adult population. And of the 714 million doses received to date, only 61% have been administered.
Only Mauritius and the Seychelles have exceeded 70% vaccination coverage. Fifteen countries have not even vaccinated 10% of their population. As for Ghana, 24.5% of the target population (22.9 million people) has been fully vaccinated, according to the GAVI vaccine alliance. The country has recorded more than 160,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, of which 1,445 have been fatal.
In Chorkor, coordinator Christiana Odei said the door-to-door campaign had reached many residents who were hesitant to get vaccinated.
" About 75% of the community's residents have already taken their first dose ," said Ms. Odei.
Initial concerns about vaccine shortages have subsided, said Aichatou Cisse, GAVI's country director for Ghana. " African countries can obtain vaccines to protect Africans, so we are on the right track ," Cisse said.
