The Deputy General Secretary for the Ghana Medical Association, Dr. Titus Beyuo has intimated that, although it is worrying that people are not willing to take the vaccine, he is sure the apprehension would die down in the course of the education the Ghana Health Service will be giving out on it to citizens.
Speaking in an interview, he said that, the fears associated with the roll out of the COVID-19 Vaccines are expected but will gradually die down.
“The reasons why people have this fear is that they haven’t received adequate information and in pharmacovigilance, people have a lot of hesitance towards vaccines as compared to other drugs.
“They said that it is being made to reduce the black population; that when you take it you become sterile; men cannot have children again. These are all rumours people have generated and the sad aspect is that intellectuals, scientists who will pick on an element of the vaccine and use it to educate people wrongly this way”.
Titus Beyuo
Additionally, Dr. Beyuo averred that, Ghana has a strong robust regulatory system for medicines and as such no harmful medicine will be let out on the market without scrutiny and its safety being ensured.
“Let me disabuse the fear by telling people that in Ghana here, we have a very strong robust system when it comes to medicines. Our Food and Drugs Authority is one of the most respected organizations as far as drugs regulation is concerned worldwide. The FDA will not approve any vaccine until they go through the entire dossier of the medication, read the literature to check that it is safe.”
Titus Beyuo
Also, Dr. Michael Owusu, a virologist with the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research into Tropical Medicine (KCCR), has advised Ghanaians to continue to religiously observe protocols on COVID-19 especially the wearing of nose masks even after they have been vaccinated against the virus.
Dr. Owusu explained that, the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine could have both geographic and system variation, hence the need to not take anything for granted.
“I will advise that, you continue to wear your nose mask after you have received a shot of the vaccine. We have the belief that because the vaccine has been successful in another jurisdiction, it will also work here. But you must realize that our bodies respond differently, what for example works in the UK, may work differently elsewhere. But the assumption is that because it has worked in the UK, we should go ahead and use it.
“But because of the body differences, after the vaccination, you must encourage people to wear nose mask, observe both social and physical distancing. Then we continue to monitor and see. So, you remember the FDA said after the vaccination, they will follow you to collect data so they see how effective or otherwise the vaccine is.”
Dr. Owusu
Dr. Owusu then advised Ghanaians not to shy away from the vaccine but avail themselves to be vaccinated. education education
