A GNA Feature by Albert Oppong-Ansah
Accra, Oct. 29, GNA – A section of the public, including Joan Atippo, a senior journalist at a popular media organisation in Accra, declined to take the COVID-19 jab.
She was caught in the web of conspiracy theories including one which, claimed that the vaccine had a microchip embedded in it.
“I do not know what has been used to develop the vaccine and no one has educated me on that. The videos I have seen on these vaccines are scary. A friend who is a big person shared it with me and I have no doubt in my mind about the authenticity of the content,” she said.
One other that validated her suspicion was a video of a mobile phone that was stacked on the arm of someone who had finished taking the vaccine.
Ignorant of the formulation of any of the COVID-19 vaccines, Joan was not the only person, but a good number of constituents were immersed in that machination.
It took the intervention of an official from Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, who explained the vaccine formulation processes and ingredients before she agreed to take the shot.
Joan’s story is similar to many in Ghana, Africa and the world who initially held that position, but through innovative strategies including risk communication and community engagement, has countered the low-risk perception and misinformation on COVID-19 vaccines in communities.
According to COVID-19 Tracker Online, about 68 per cent of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Nearly 13 billion doses have been administered globally, and 1.84 million are now administered each day. About 24 per cent of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.
Disinformation and misinformation
Ghana was the first country in the world to receive COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility. It kicked off her vaccination drive on March 1, 2021, making its rollout among the longest-running in Africa.
Despite the longevity of its vaccination programme, by the beginning of 2022, less than half of the target population of 20 million people had received at least one vaccine dose and only about 13 per cent were fully vaccinated.
To improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake, in February 2022, Ghana instituted its first National COVID-19 Vaccination Day, building firmly on the foundation of previous National Immunization Days for Polio.
As of mid-August, 2022, a total of 20,220,960 COVID-19 vaccine doses, have been administered through the vaccination programme to more than 11 million people.
However, a segment of the population is still hesitating about the vaccine.
Dr Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, the Programme Manager for the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) at the Ghana Health Service, says one of the top major obstacles the vaccination programmes faced was deliberate misinformation and disinformation.
“In reference to the video where someone rubbed a mobile phone at the injected arm and got stuck, that cannot be said to be anything new or caused by the vaccine. It would have happened even before the vaccination,” he said.
“It is possible for that to happen due to Van der Waals forces – relatively weak electric forces that attract neutral molecules to one another in gases, in liquefied and solidified gases, and in almost all organic liquids and solids”.
Although, he says it was the wish of many to have access to medication for the pandemic when people were dying and getting sick, other sections of the public were not willing to take the jab until they were convinced.
COVID-19 vaccine: the main ingredient and how it works
The COVID-19 vaccine, like many others, was developed to help the human body develop immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 without having to get the illness.
Dr Amponsa-Achiano explains that the critical component of the vaccine formulation includes a modified part of the virus or germ tissue of the COVID-19 virus.
“The vaccine is introduced to your body as a jab, which contains the modified part of the virus. It builds and prepares the body to withstand in case the virus is finally contracted.
He says the development of new vaccines goes through steps prioritising the keywords “safety and efficacy” before it receives final approval for use.
Dr Amponsa-Achiano states that the vaccine does not affect or interact with the human DNA or enter the nucleus of the cell where one’s DNA is located, and cannot change or influence one’s genes.
Dr Charu Kaushic, the Scientific Director at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research explains that all vaccines work by teaching our immune system to recognize a pathogen – a disease-causing organism.
In the case of COVID-19 vaccines, this pathogen is the SARS-CoV-2 virus. When a vaccinated person comes into contact with SARS-CoV-2, their immune system (the body’s defence mechanism) responds by attacking the virus and preventing it from making them sick.
She says getting a COVID-19 vaccine helps protect the person who is vaccinated and helps protect the whole community. The more people who are vaccinated, the lower the individual risk of contracting the disease.
Cecilia Lodonu-Senoo, Executive Director of Hope for Future Generation says Ghana’s vaccine programme has recorded successes, especially on the African continent.
She is of the view that there are still the likes of many Joan’s out there who need to be sensitised to be part of the COVID-19 vaccination success story for the country to achieve herd immunity.
She called on the media and civil society organisations to intensify the campaign for more [people to get vaccinated to save themselves, their families and the nation.
GNA