The Risk Communication and Community Engagement Team of the National COVID-19 Response has dismissed the assertion that the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine cause infertility, sickness and death.
The team has, therefore, reassured the public that the country has undertaken all due diligence regarding the safety and efficacy of the vaccines and appealed to all to take advantage of the opportunity to reduce their vulnerability to the disease when given the chance to take the vaccine.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, in Accra last Saturday, the Leader of the team, Dr Dacosta Aboagye, said there was absolutely nothing to fear about the vaccines.
Two vaccines
The government has currently settled on two vaccines — Covishield (AstraZeneca vaccine by THE Serum Institute of India) and Sputnik V from Russia.
Dr Aboagye’s words of encouragement were premised on the public’s mixed reaction and anxiety about the government’s announcement of the arrival of an initial 600,000 doses of the vaccines.
While some said they would take the jabs others said they would not because they considered it to be a ploy by the developed world to wipe out Africans.
There have also been rumours about serious side effects of the vaccines, such as causing death, infertility, and people testing positive for HIV after being vaccinated.
But, the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and expert immunologists have described the rumours as myths that ought to be disregarded.