GMA alleys fears of Ghanaians ahead of coronavirus vaccine rollout

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) says the fears associated with the rollout of the COVID-19 Vaccines are expected.

The GMA stressed that as of now, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has approved two of the vaccines- the Sputnik V vaccine and the Covishield.

GMA Deputy General Secretary Dr. Titus Beyuo told Alfred Ocansey, host of the 3FM’s Sunrise Morning Show that it is worrying that people are not willing to take the vaccine but is sure the apprehension would die down in the course of education.

“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," he said.

“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 rumors people have generated it 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," he added.

Dr. Titus Beyuo who is also a pharmacologist said Ghana has a strong robust regulatory system for medicines.



“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 drug 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,” he stated.

He continued that there are categories of adverse effects released by the World Health Organization namely; defects in the vaccine quality including storage; reaction related to the vaccine product; immunization error-related reactions; anxiety-related panic reactions and coincidental events.