Mr. Elvis Darko, a newspaper editor has intimated that, the issue Ghanaians should be worried about should be the arrival time of vaccine that has been announced by the government.
Speaking during an editor’s forum on an Accra based radio station, he averred that, taking the conspiracy out of issues arising due to COVID, those who want to get vaccinated will scramble for it and it will not even be enough in the country when it arrives.
“For me, it’s not about whether people are comfortable with the Vaccine. People have their conspiracy theories concerning it. What I want you to know is that, immediately the vaccine lands in the country, people will scramble for it to be vaccinated so that they know they are immune from the infection.”
His comment comes on the back of the President’s announcement that, the country is expected to receive 17.6 million vaccines by June 2021 to fight the virus. The country is also expecting to receive the first batch of the vaccine by March 2021.
He further stated that, the conspiracy theories circulating in the country is not something to bother about since those who want it will go for it. He noted that those speaking of not taking the vaccine make up the minority of the population.
“Now the companies producing the vaccines are saying they are facing production challenges and that they can’t even meet up with the global demand, even for countries that have already paid for the vaccine.”
Mr. Darko said that, the country should rather hope the more developed countries do not hoard the vaccines and delay its arrival in Africa. Additionally, he posited that, if the vaccines arrive in the country on time looking at the number of cases recorded and the ones yet to be recorded, it will help mitigate the wide spread of the virus and reduce the number of deaths.
“When we receive the vaccine on time, our cases will be able to reduce to below 2,000.”
Another publisher, Mr. Andy Kankam also commented that, with the number of cases being recorded currently, what the nation must do is to be talking about and mostly educating people about the vaccine.
Touching on the fears and the conspiracies associated with the virus, he also stated that, the country has the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) amongst other authorities to make sure the vaccine is safe and efficient to be used.
He then called for the education by health professional to the citizens on the effects and the reason for administering the vaccine. He stated that, there is no vaccine without side effect and so Ghanaians should debunk the various conspiracies about the vaccine being made to kill Africans.
The President in his 23rd update on the measures taken against the spread of the virus announced that, efforts are still underway in procuring the COVID-19 vaccine with the first batch set to arrive in March.
