With 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca corona vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India already in the country, with distribution to persons with underlying conditions, health workers and essential services providers already set to take off from next week, there is the need to understand one other important double-faced aspect of the vaccines we have in Ghana.
Ghana has so far settled on two vaccines for the country: the AstraZeneca and Sputnik-V vaccines, but one other interesting thing about these vaccines is that for each or either of them, they require two shots to fully complete the process of vaccination.
That means that should you take your first jab today, you’d need to be put on a follow-up schedule at which you will take your second and final shot of the vaccine.
But how long do you have to wait between those two shots?
According to a report on Forbes.com, for the AstraZeneca vaccine, for instance, the waiting period is 28 days.
“The official answer may be 21 days after the first dose for the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, 28 days after the first dose for the Moderna vaccine, and 28 days or more after the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine,” the report said.
But, speaking at the Public Engagement on COVID-19 Vaccination Roll Out Plan, Dr. Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, Programme Manager, Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), said that it is expected that after three weeks of taking the first shots, citizens should be able to take their second and last shots.
Between that period however, according to the Chief Executive Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Delese Mimi Darko, there will be an efficient roll-out plan on following-up on those who have been vaccinated, as well as a way of monitoring causalities.
