Second dose of coronavirus vaccine to be taken in 8 weeks time - GMA

The General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Justice Yankson has urged all those who have taken the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to ensure they go for the second dose.

He said although the second dose can be taken any time from three weeks to 12 weeks, Ghana has set a target to give the second dose within 8 weeks’ time.

Speaking on Atinka TV’s morning show, hosted by Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu, Dr. Yankson said more of the vaccines are expected in the country within 8 weeks.

“By 8 weeks’ time, we would have received more so those who took the first dose can have the second dose. We have captured their details and when it is time to take their second dose, we will alert them so that the initial 600,000 can get their second dose,” he said.

“The whole idea of a vaccine is that we are giving it to you so that your body can build immunity to fight the disease. For this AstraZeneca vaccine, you need two doses before u can build the required immunity,” he said.

He added that, "The first one will give us immunity but it is not complete, you will end up with some partial immunity. Then when you get exposed after a certain period, you may stand a bigger risk of getting the disease. But when you get the vaccine, if you get the disease, the impact will not be as bad as not having it at all, so you may end up with a mild disease..”

He said if it becomes possible that someone has adverse side effects, the government will take care of the person with its health facilities free of charge.

Meanwhile, Dr. Yankson said Ghana is targeting about 42 million to 44 million doses for 20 million people.

He also the government is looking at completing the whole vaccination of the 600,000 within a week until another batch comes for another set of people.

Dr. Yankson said it is possible to receive the other batches every week, saying that the next vaccine received will be given to another group of people.

Speaking about Ghana’s vaccine having a 63 per cent Efficacy rate, Dr. Yankson said no vaccine, especially for this Covid-19 has a vaccine efficacy rate of 100 per cent.

He said when vaccinated, the rest of the 37 per cent aside from the 63 who will get the vaccine will also have some form of protection even though it will not be as those part of the 63 per cent.