A Medical Practitioner, Dr. Banda A, Khalifa, has rejected the petition filed by some of his colleagues against the vaccine rollout.
In his view, the petition is full of unscientific assertions by his colleagues.
Dr Khalifa indicated that petitioners failed to cite a single reference that qualifies as high-level evidence.
“Most of their sources were, at best, non-peer-reviewed publications, opinions, commentaries and websites of known conspiracy theorists. I was particularly concerned that my fellow colleagues will use information from known conspiracy theorists.
“The same website published an article in the early stages of the pandemic claiming that the pandemic was a hoax. In 2016, the same website claimed that Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis vaccine (DTap) caused a medical condition in children called microcephaly (baby’s head is much smaller than expected).
“This website cited by the petitioners has been fact-checked multiple times. It is rather unfortunate that my colleagues will resort to a website long known to be spreading misinformation about vaccines. The motive of the petitioners is very clear when they rely on information from a perennial conspiracy theory-laden website,” he said in a statement.
Some 11 doctors have written to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to issue a directive for the nationwide vaccine rollout in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic to be paused.
The doctors say the risks associated with these vaccines, per the data studied so far, outweigh the potential benefits, if any.
In their petition dated Monday, January 10, 2022, the doctors, who call themselves as Concerned Ghanaian Doctors, cited how the UK and Israel are still battling with the virus despite a high vaccination rate of their respective populations.
“These countries have very high vaccination rates, currently deploying booster programmes, yet they are struggling to get the virus under control especially with these new variants,” the doctors observed in the jointly-signed petition.
“Assuming as a country we are to vaccinate more than 50% of our population, are we going to continue with perpetual boosters every 3 to 6 months in an attempt to maintain vaccine induced immunity for this disease?
“Where then is the end point when these vaccines do not stop infection or the spread of Covid-19? Is this financially feasible for us as a nation?”
They contended that the case fatality rate is not as high as anticipated especially given the fact that not many citizens are testing.
For them, the vaccines becoming a mandate is only a ploy by some pharmaceutical companies to rake in profits.
“If there is safe, effective, affordable, freely available early treatment for Covid-19, vaccines are no longer a priority.
“It doesn’t take a genius to recognise the financial benefit of pharmaceutical companies in demonising potential early, effective treatments.
“If these medications do work, that’s wonderful in the human race’s fight against Covid-19. However, they are practicably placebos if they don’t work. Why the suppression and demonising of these early treatments then, if the concern is health.
“Considering all these, wouldn’t it be prudent to pause and ask ourselves whether these novel vaccines are necessary in the first place,” they quizzed.
For them, Ghana, and for that matter Africa, must lead the way in the fight against Covid-19.
“All the relevant metrics show that Ghana and Africa at large have done better than most of the world with respect to the pandemic even before the advent of these vaccines.
“It is possible the rest of the world are rather to learn from us.”
The doctors are Dr Timothy Oblijah Armah, Dr Bismark Opoku-Asare, Dr Faisal Adjei, Dr William Ghunney and Dr Bernard Boateng Adjei.
The others are Dr Doreen Oye Agyei, Dr Michael Agyemang-Wiredu, Dr Richard Fayah and Dr Sedem Cyril Klinogoh.The rest are Dr Phil Dowuona and Dr Emmanuel Awuttey.
But Dr khalifa said “I tried to stay away from the issue of vaccine mandates and instead stick to the unscientific component of their petition. No one ever said that vaccination alone is the way out of this pandemic.
“The emergence of variants and the subsequent waning of immunity emphasizes the need for measures like masking, social distancing, and personal hygiene to fight against this pandemic. The recommendation made by the petitioners to the president to quit the vaccination roll-out is not based on any high-quality evidence, but rather it’s based on personal beliefs.”
Meanwhile the Ghana Medical Association has also dismissed their claims.
The GMA in a statement issued on Wednesday January 12 said among other things that “The GMA finds the contents of the petition misleading, unfortunate and not based on available local and international scientific data.”
