The Ministry of Health has suspended the planned Ebola vaccine trials which was to take place at Hohoe in the Volta Region.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the Health Ministry, the Minister, Alex Segbefia who is out of the country, suspended the program as a result of the widespread criticism of the exercise by members of the public and several civil society organizations including the Ghana Academy of Arts and Science and the Volta regional branch of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC)
[contextly_sidebar id=”8zGsFOM0oWWCCIc6RyU9lQBUzLSSWQ1M”]”The Minister for Health is not in town. This whole thing is being done by FDA together with the Ghana Health Service. The Minister has got a lot of calls from numerous Ghanaians saying that they are not interested in any trial. So he said that since he’s not in Ghana, the trial should be suspended until he returns to look at the issues. ” Tony Goodman said.
He also revealed that the Minister is expected back in the country at the weekend.
The move comes days after the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) officially gave an international pharmaceutical company the approval to commence Ebola vaccine trials in the country.
According to the FDA the trials were approved because the development of the vaccine will benefit the country.
Ghanaians ‘not psychologically’ ready for trials
Tony Goodman added that another reason for the suspension of the trial was the fact that the Minister did not believe that Ghanaians were not ready ‘psychologically’ to deal with vaccine trial for the Ebola Virus Disease [EVD].
“The minister understands that the FDA have the mandate to do this [trial] but psychological health is very important, psychologically Ghanaians are not ready for the trials.”
No risks in drug trial
There have been concerns that the drug trial might pose some health risks to the participants but the FDA has sought to quash that impression insisting the the trials were safe.
“If a vaccine has been developed in Mali, will you expect that Ghanaians will benefit from it? You will say because we will go for it. What is wrong if Ghana also allows itself to be used? The most important thing is to establish whether the vaccine is safe and that has been established. It’s also been established that this vaccine is not going to cause any Ebola diseases. There is no way we are going to get Ebola because of the trial,” he added.
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana