Ghana endorses safety of COVID-19 vaccine

Coronavirus outbreak

The arrival of hundreds of 600,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines in Ghana has been widely welcomed, but the authorities here say they have to continue to counter false information about the pandemic and vaccines.

On Sunday President Nana Akufo-Addo countered some of the common false statements and conspiracies about the safety and efficacy of the approved jabs.

The vaccine, Mr Addo said, does not change your DNA, it's not part of a global cabal plan to "wipe out Africans," and will not cause infertility.

The president also said experts from Ghana's Food and Drugs Authority had declared the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines safe.

The country's scientists have also approved Russia's Sputnik V vaccine and were also involved in research to develop other jabs.

To rollout the vaccination, the National Vaccine Deployment Plan has segmented the population into four groups in order of priority:

Frontline health workers, people with underlying health conditions, and people aged 60 and above will be among the first to be vaccinated.

Key workers in the executive, legislature judiciary, and security services including some journalists will also get the opportunity to receive the jabs.

But pregnant women and children below 18 years old are not part of the vaccination campaign.

The authorities have said they don’t have enough data on the possible side effects of the vaccines on such groups.

Source: BBC 

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