General News of Thursday, 1 April 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Coronavirus vaccination has not been affected by conspiracy - Dr. Yaw Bediako

Dr. Yaw Bediako is an immunologist with WACCBIP Dr. Yaw Bediako is an immunologist with WACCBIP

Dr. Yaw Bediako, an immunologist, has said that the rollout of the vaccines for the novel coronavirus in the country has been without glitches despite the many conspiracy theories that have gone ahead of it.

Dr. Yaw Bediako, who is Research Fellow at the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens of the University of Ghana explained that instead, the vaccination process has been quite successful, reports myjoyonline.com.

According to him, Ghanaians have been responding very well to the program, with many responding quite well to the newly-developed drug.

“We have vaccinated a good number of people, considering the number of vaccines we received we have almost exhausted that supply and I think we have done so very quickly.

“Yes, the conspiracy theories are bound but I don’t really believe it has affected the roll out [of the vaccine] in Ghana. We don’t yet have saturation; it is not like we have millions of vaccines to give out and they were going to waste,” he explained.

Also, he said that, “We have handed out 500,000 out of the 600,000 that we received. So, on the whole, you can give us quite a good grade as far as the roll out is concerned.”

March 2, 2021, marked the beginning of vaccination for the coronavirus in the country after the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his vice, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, and their spouses publicly took the first jabs of the vaccine.

The country had earlier received its first set of 600,000 doses of the Astrazeneca vaccines from the COVAX in India, making it the first country in the world to receive them from the facility.

Dr. Yaw Bediako reiterated the safety of the vaccines for use, urging people to go out for it.

In the meantime, the Ghana Health Service and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) have been embarking on a rigorous sensitization programme to clarify misinformation and myths about the vaccines ahead of 17.6 million doses Ghana is estimated to receive by June to cover the rest of the population that is yet to be vaccinated.