The Ghana Health Service has responded to allegations that the extremely infectious COVID-19 Delta variant strain has been discovered in the nation, stating that the cases reported are not community infections.
According to the study, the instances were only recorded at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and were not made public since all positive cases were required to be isolated.
Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, said in a statement that the country has not seen a third wave of the virus because of a “strong monitoring system in place at the ports of entry and rigorous isolation of all cases identified.”
“As of yet, the nation has identified six Delta versions of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 virus) in all samples collected at the ports of entry between April and June 2021. The statement emphasized that “no Delta variation has been identified in samples collected from community cases.”
Professor Gordon Awandare of the University of Ghana’s West Africa Centre for Cell Biology and Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) verified the Delta strain’s discovery.
As a result, he has asked the government to explore purchasing Pfizer vaccinations in order to fight the new COVID-19 strains.
Although the AstraZeneca and Sputnik-V vaccines are effective, experts believe they are ineffective against the new strain.
Professor Gordon Awandare believes that obtaining the Pfizer vaccinations will help the country combat the new strain.
“If you look at the new variants that we have had (South African variant and the Indian variants) and look at the data from all the other countries, the Pfizer vaccine seems to be the one that is able to have a more reliable effect on these variants. In terms of all these levels of protection (deaths, hospitalization). So the Pfizer vaccine seems to do better against these new variants.”
AstraZenca and Sputnik-V potency
Concerning the country’s vaccination readiness against the Delta variation, the health management authority dismissed claims that the existing AstraZeneca and the planned Sputnik-V vaccines are ineffective in protecting people from the highly transmissible Indian strain.
Such assertions, it said, are unsupported by data.
According to the GHS, two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are extremely successful against hospitalization due to the Delta form, with no fatalities reported among individuals who were vaccinated.
Not only that, but it also cited a Gamaleya Center research that found Sputnik-V to be more effective than other COVID-19 vaccines against the Delta form of coronavirus, which was originally identified in India.
The GHS statement clarified that claims that the Sputnik-V and AstraZeneca vaccines are ineffective against the Delta strain of SARS-Cov-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) are false.
Ghana’s immunization campaign
Ghana received 650,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility, as well as 50,000 doses from the Indian government and 165,000 doses from MTN, for its mass immunization campaign.
Since then, the government has struggled to get additional vaccines in order to reach its goal of immunizing 20 million people.
Later, it was revealed that the government is employing intermediaries to get some of Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccinations, but at a higher price of US$ 19 than the initial manufacturing price of US$ 10.
Source: ATLFMNEWSROOM
