Public Health Physician and former General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Jehu Appiah says the AstraZeneca vaccine is not meant to spread the COVID-19 virus.

Addressing fears that the AstraZeneca vaccine which reached the shores of Ghana on Wednesday is laced with the coronavirus, Dr. Jehu Appiah stated, “The virus has not been mixed with the vaccine. It is safe and Ghanaians should not be fearful”.

He noted that fake news circulating on social media on the vaccine being an agent to spread the virus among Africans is worrying and must be dealt with.

“I have been getting news on social media about the vaccine and it seems Ghanaians have a deep-seated fear for the vaccine. This is bad and Ghanaians should not be fearful. The government has done well to bring us the vaccine and we should take it for our own well-being”, he indicated.

Dr. Jehu says he is very surprised Ghanaians are behaving this way when the country has seen numerous vaccination exercises. “The FDA has tested the vaccine and have determined that it is safe. Therefore, we all need to take the vaccine as we need to protect ourselves. The vaccine is of good quality”, he stated.

Ghana has become the first recipient of COVID-19 vaccine doses distributed by COVAX, a global vaccine sharing initiative.

Ghana took delivery of 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India just before 8 am on Wednesday.

Key government and health officials as well as diplomats were at the Kotoka International Airport to receive the vaccines.