Health Ministry begins Ebola vaccine trial sensitization Thursday

The Health Ministry will kickstart a sensitization exercise on the Ebola vaccine trials in the Greater Accra Region on June 18.
The public education exercise will subsequently be carried out in the Volta, Brong Ahafo and the Upper East regions.
The exercise is aimed at changing the perception among many Ghanaians that the vaccine trial will end up spreading the Ebola virus in Ghana.
Health Minister Alex Segbefia made this known on Tuesday when he appeared before Parliament to explain the rationale behind the intended clinical trials.
Last week, Parliament ordered that the trial be suspended following growing concerns raised by some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), the Volta Regional branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and some Members of Parliament.
Mr Segbefia, who was then out of the country, called for an immediate suspension of the exercise with the explanation that Ghanaians were not psychologically ready to undergo the clinical trial.
The Minister, in his address to Parliament, explained the choice of Hohoe as the center for the clinical trial saying, Hohoe and Kintampo have over the years been sites for clinical trial of vaccines.
He said standard protocol had been followed prior to the approval for the vaccination to take place, but he conceded that despite the rigorous nature of the approval process, the stakeholder consultation that needed to have been done was not thorough enough.
Credit: citifmonline