The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has said the AstraZeneca vaccine currently being used in Ghana to vaccinate people against COVID-19, is safe despite reports that it is causing blood clots in some people in Europe.
Ghana was the first African country to take delivery of 600,000 doses of the vaccine a couple of weeks ago.
As of last week, about 400,000 Ghanaians had been vaccinated.
Although there is no reported case of blood clots in the country after taking the AstraZeneca vaccine, it is further fueling some conspiracy theories against covid-19 vaccine.
In a statement, the Food and Drugs Authority said it constituted a Joint COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Review Committee of Experts to assess all reported adverse events and make recommendations on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.
“The most commonly reported adverse events are headaches, fever, chills, body pains, pain at the injection site, weakness, nausea, and dizziness.” The statement said
The FDA allaying the fears of the public said “These adverse events are expected from the vaccination and in most cases, resolved within a day or two.”
Additionally, the Joint COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Review Committee of Experts discussed reports of blood clots in some countries in Europe following vaccination with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, leading to the suspension of vaccination for further investigations.
It concluded that there is currently no causal link between the event and the vaccine, a position that was subsequently upheld by the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization.
In view of the above, the FDA has reassured the public that it is closely monitoring the situation locally and to date, no events of blood clots linked to the Covid-19 vaccine have been reported among those who have been vaccinated in the country.
“Generally, vaccines and medicines tend to have some side effects and these needs to be continually balanced against the expected benefits in preventing illnesses.” It added
