Ghana

Fact check: Claims that the COVID-19 vaccine was created to wipe out Africa not true

Monday, March 01, 2021 at 12:38 PM by Mohammed Awal

- Ghana has taken delivery of 600,000 doses of the vaccine

- The president, his vice, and their spouses were the first people to take the COVID-19 vaccine jab in the country

- The country also signed an agreement with the Russian government for more vaccine

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Ghana on February 22, 2021, took delivery of 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine under the United Nation-led COVAX facility.

Even before the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccine licensed to the Serum Institute of India (AZ/SII) in the country, there had been and still, there are expressions of doubts about the efficacy of the vaccine.

Fact check: Claims that the COVID-19 vaccine was created to wipe out Africa not true — President Nana Akufo-Addo taking his COVID-19 jab at the 37 Military Hospital...Photo credit: YEN.com.gh
Source: UGC

Others also joined conspiracy theorists who believe the vaccine had been created to “wipe out the African race.”

These sentiments have emerged to be false.

“This is far from the truth. As your President, I want to assure you that the vaccine is safe,” President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo assured during his February 28, 2021, national address.

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The Food and Drugs Authority certified the safe use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The country reportedly spent over $200 million in the procurement of the vaccine.

Meanwhile, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumuia and his wife Samira have also taken the jab for the COVID-19 vaccine.

They took the jab at the Police Hospital about 30 minutes after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo became the first person to be vaccinated.

Akufo-Addo took the jab for the COVID-19 vaccine with his wife Rebecca at 37 Military Hospital on Monday, March 1, 2021.

Presidential advisor on health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare said the president being the first person to take the COVID-19 vaccine jab would assure Ghanaians that the vaccine is safe.

Ghana also signed on to a consignment of the Russian Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine.

The emergency authorization was captured in a press statement by the Russian Government which states the Ghana government had “granted an emergency authorization” of the vaccine.