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Former Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Okoe Boye has assured Ghanaians of the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines yet to reach the shores of Ghana.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his 23rd update on COVID-19 on Sunday, January 31, 2021, disclosed that the first batch of the vaccines will arrive in March.

The President assured Ghanaians that only accredited, valid and certified vaccines will be imported into the country and further revealed a total of 17.6 million vaccines will be procured by the end of June 2021.

''Fellow Ghanaians, in Update No. 21, I indicated that Ghana is set to procure her first consignment of the COVID vaccines within the first half of this year. Since then, a lot of work has been done towards the realisation of this. Our aim is to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of twenty million people. Through bilateral and multilateral means, we are hopeful that, by the end of June, a total of seventeen million, six hundred thousand (17.6 million) vaccine doses would have been procured for the Ghanaian people. The earliest vaccine will be in the country by March'', he said.

Speaking on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', Dr. Okoe Boye reaffirmed the President's commitment to procure certified vaccines which have no health risks to recipients.

According to him, the vaccines will not be given to Ghanaians until it has undergone strict evaluation by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).

Dr. Okoe Boye called on Ghanaians not to be afraid of the vaccines saying ''the vaccines will not be administered immediately. When the vaccines arrive, we will first give them to the FDA which is responsible to check the validity of food and medicine before it's given to Ghanaians. The FDA will make sure there is an established process like the President said to ensure the safety of the vaccines. They will scrutinize documents to make sure it meets the standards of the trials''.