The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has confirmed that the recent recall of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine is primarily due to commercial reasons.
During the COVID-19 Vaccination and Child Health Promotion Week/African Vaccination Week Campaign across various locations in the Ga East Municipality, Accra, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, addressed the issue.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye clarified that the recall was not prompted by medical concerns but rather by commercial factors.
“They are withdrawing for commercial reasons in the sense that there are superior vaccines in the market,” he explained.
The decision to withdraw stemmed from the surplus availability of updated vaccines amid the ongoing pandemic.
Following the global recall announcement by AstraZeneca regarding rare adverse effects like Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS), the pharmaceutical company acknowledged the potential risks associated with the vaccine.
TTS is marked by the formation of blood clots that can block veins or arteries, leading to symptoms such as leg pain and swelling, chest discomfort, or numbness on one side of the body. Complications like strokes or heart attacks linked to thrombosis can be fatal.
In the past week, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) recorded 31 new cases of COVID-19 in the country. Dr. Kwame Amponsah-Achiano, Programs Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunization at the Ghana Health Service, clarified that these cases are not severe.
