Correspondence from Upper East:

Residents of Paga in the Kassena-Nankana West District have expressed concerns over the safety of the Vaccines which arrived in the country yesterday to fight the spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).

The residents said they have fear the vaccines may not be from good sources and could deepen the havoc that has already been caused by the disease and cause other health challenges.

The residents said although procuring the vaccines was the right step, authorities should be a little cautious by going an extra mile to check its purity.

When GhanaWeb interacted with some residents, they said the disease has caused a lot of trouble and changed their social lives, so coming out with vaccines which could end its outbreak was good news.

While some of the residents stated their readiness to avail themselves to be vaccinated, others who did not trust the safety of the vaccines said they would not.

Elizabeth Nabare, a resident and business woman stated that she did not have a problem getting vaccinated once the vaccine would protect her from the viral infection.

She believed the vaccines were from trusted sources reason many countries the world over were using it. She urged other residents to avail themselves for the vaccination when the vaccines arrive in Paga.

She however expressed worry over the inadequacy of the vaccines, stating that the vaccines may run short before they got to the poorest parts of the country.

Another resident, Musa Gabriel, said the mysterious nature of the disease and how it was killing people was what would compel him to go for the vaccination. He said aside hearing about the arrival of the vaccines in the news, he did not have ample information on it and how efficacious it could be.

He said he would make sure he was fully informed about the vaccines before presenting himself for the vaccination.
“we are not seeing it but we are hearing that people in the upper east region have been dying because of it. But anyway, I will take it [the vaccine]. If the vaccine comes, I will also be part to take it”. He stressed.

Yorose Patrick, a Mobile Money agent, said he did not know that government had succeeded in procuring some doses of the vaccines to fight the disease. He said although he was aware government was in a race with time to get a solution to the pandemic, he never thought those efforts would be fruitful.

He described the arrival of the vaccines as “good news”, but added that he would not avail himself for the vaccination.

Mr. Yorose believed the vaccines may be contaminated with virus and may be targeted at causing harm to the black race. He said he may have a change of mind in the future to go for the vaccine, but for now, he will stay away.

“Actually, I don’t know. I have no evidence that this is the correct vaccines for the covid-19 that we are talking about. because I think that before you get this one [vaccines], it is not easy and we don’t know where they got it”.