Immunologist at West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), Dr Yaw Bediako, has expressed the need for pregnant women to get vaccinated in order to avoid contracting the COVID-19 virus.

According to him, evidence has been out for a while now suggesting there is no danger posed to either mother or child. Dr Bediako emphasized that if the scientific data is quite clear, then there’s really no reason why a pregnant woman should not be vaccinated, especially as they are susceptible to the more severe consequences of covid.

“Every pregnant woman should get vaccinated it is as simple as that. In some ways, we are a little too slow to respond. The reason to typically wait is [because] with any new medical intervention, we are the most cautious for the pregnant women because we need to assess the potential effect on the woman or on her developing baby… They are already a more susceptible group and so now that the scientific data is clear that there’s no danger posed, then they should be moved to the front of the line because they are a high-risk group for severe covid complication”.
Dr Yaw Bediako

In assessing the vaccination drive, Dr Bediako lauded the country for “staying the course” although there’s more room for improved inoculation nationwide. He intimated that the challenge now is the inclusion of booster jabs for fully vaccinated person, which according to him, almost “resets your clock”.

“If we did not vaccinate quick enough, we would have to start re-vaccinating people who are already vaccinated”.
Dr Yaw Bediako

Administration of booster jabs

The Director General for the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye during a presser encouraged recipients of full vaccination doses to go in for the booster jabs.

Commenting on this, Dr Bediako revealed that there is the realization that about six months after one’s last dose the efficacy of the vaccine wanes considerably. As such, there is the need to administer boosters.

“We have to accelerate the process of vaccinating so that everybody at least gets their first two doses. We also have to bear in mind that we are in the era of having to give boosters that means till people have received the booster, they are no longer protected as we were”.
Dr Yaw Bediako

On his part, the Bono East Director of Health, Dr Fred Adomako Boateng, revealed that they are “not doing bad” with regard to the vaccination drive in the region. He noted that the population census held last year figures has led to the increase in the population of the region, influencing the number of persons unvaccinated.

“Initially, in Bono East, the total population was around 920, 000 almost 1 million. With the census now, the population of Bono East is now 1, 221, 000. People who are eligible for the vaccines are 774,000; initially, it was 730,000… If we had not actually updated the figures, we’ll be clocking around 40 or 42% but we are still going to step up the drive to make sure that people who are really eligible for the vaccines will really get it”.
Dr Fred Adomako Boateng