We cannot tell if the Covid-19 vaccine will work against Omicron or not – Dr. Bright Adu
Ghanaians have been advised that with regards to Covid-19 to continue observing the protocols more than ever with Dr Bright Adu of the Noguchi Medical Centre hinting that the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 is being examined.
He admonished that this is not the time for Ghanaians to let their guard down but rather strive to avoid crowded places, wash hands regularly and observe other protocols that will keep the Ghanaian society a bit protected should the new variant enter the community.
“Omicron is barely a few weeks old so it will be quite premature for anybody to make such a concrete statement. In terms of vaccine efficacy against the virus or its infectivity, the transmission from persons to person or other interventions that are currently working, how it will deal with this particular virus. We agree and understand that this is quite a big jump in the evolution of the virus.
“Because if you look at this and Delta there is quite a huge difference but these are early days yet and we have to be patient and keep monitoring as it emerges. The virus cannot 100% escape the activity of any vaccine because it’s still a coronavirus, and there is some semblance that the vaccine is made against. There would still be some (vaccine) effectiveness but we don’t know to what extent and this is what everyone is anxiously working on, to try and understand how effective it will be,” the Scientist explained
With regards to Noguchi’s work so far he indicated that working is ongoing round the clock especially with the establishment of satellite sample collection centres from the south to the northern part of Ghana monitoring cases of influenza diseases and stated that as of now there is no case of Omicron in the Ghanaian community.
These sites are used to monitor influenza diseases and people who report anything like fluid. We capture that, take samples and we look into all of these samples that we have collected and none of them had Omicron. So far as we can tell it has not yet escaped into the community.
“But of course we are monitoring and we will keep sequencing what we find to see if we can pick it up if it is already in the Communities,” Dr. Adu added.
Ghanaians worry is stemming from the announcement by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) that the Covid-19 Omicron variant has been discovered at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra.
Though the variant has not yet gotten to the Ghanaian communities.
Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director –General of the Ghana Health Service confirmed the news during a presentation at the launch of Ghana’s Covid-19 vaccination month which starts Wednesday, December 1, 2021.
“The Omicron variant of the Covid-19 disease has been found at the Kotoka International Airport. The good thing is that in the community test done so far, we have not seen any Omicron within the community of Ghana. But the danger is that if someone has the Omicron, and it is incubating, it will not be found at the airport,” he cautioned.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
