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Opinions of Sunday, 28 February 2021

Columnist: Nana Kwame Nkrumah (Ph.D.)

Enough of the vaccine conspiracies and 'intellectual maladies'

Coronavirus vaccine. File photo Coronavirus vaccine. File photo

The average child in Ghana receives 13 vaccines before he or she is 2 years.

A child born in Ghana receives one vaccine dose against tuberculosis at birth, three doses against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis b, and Haemophilus influenza at 6, 1,0 and 14 weeks, four doses of oral polio vaccine (6, 10, and 14 weeks), three doses of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, also referred to as “PCV” (at 6, 10 and 14 weeks), two doses of rotavirus vaccine (6, 10 weeks ), one dose of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), two doses of measles-rubella vaccine (at 9 and 18 months), one dose of yellow fever vaccine (at 9 months) and one dose of Meningitis A vaccine, at 18 months.

It is significant to add that none of these vaccines are produced or manufactured in Ghana. In fact, these Vaccines are sponsored by the WHO under the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) and UNICEF. The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) which is at the front line today aiding in COVID 19 research was built by the Government of Japan. Ask them if they have received any substantial funding from the government since it was established in 1979. Quite recently, I also heard the CEO of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) say it is now engaging a committee to look at research into the POSSIBILITY of Ghana producing its own vaccine. The keyword Is POSSIBILITY

I am not in any way underscoring the unethical practices of some medical practitioners, neither am I undermining past researches surrounding the vaccine conspiracies by the so-called white supremacist. Rather, Vaccines remain one of the numerous scientific innovations and are literally lifesavers. Vaccinations have revolutionized global health and arguably the single most life-saving innovation in the history of medicine. In the history of mankind, Vaccines have as well eradicated smallpox, slashed child mortality rates, and prevented lifelong disabilities.

Finding a vaccine to protect the world against the new coronavirus is an enormous challenge, but if there’s one thing we can learn from history, it’s that there is the reason for hope.

Pastors, prominent business owners, politicians, local sports figures, and so on should work in conjunction with our local medical practitioners to provide solid information. Conspiracy theories will always be among us, but the pandemic doesn’t have to be. If you do not want to take the Vaccine, I advise you to sit quietly in your room and watch your favourite TV show.

I am not a medical practitioner, and neither am I a scientist, however, I am an educated man who is trained to think beyond what I see.

My 2pesewas