The typhoid vaccine trial has commenced at Agogo in the Asante Akim North District of the Ashanti region following approval by the Food and Drugs Authority.

The trial is targeting at least, 26,000 children in the Asante Akim North and Central districts.

The research is expected to generate data to consolidate safety of the product for the management of typhoid fever in Africa.

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology collaborating centre was established to conduct vaccine research and development for global health.

The centre will be a research and training site to implement ongoing and new collaborative projects.

The project funded by European Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation seeks to assess the effectiveness of a typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) through two clinical studies in Ghana.

It is meant to support the introduction of TCV into routine immunization programmes in typhoid-endemic countries in Africa.

Principal Investigator on the project, Prof. Yaw Adu Sarkodie said the area was chosen for the study due to “the level of disease burden”.

He said the participants aged between 9 months to 15 years will be monitored for three years.

A clinical Pharmacologist in charge of pharmacovigilance, Prof. Kwame Ohene Buabeng, dispelled the notion the vaccine poses risk to participants.

“This is phase IV clinical trial. Authorities have agreed the product is safe and effective for use. So, now we’d want to expose a large number of people,” he stressed.