Covid-19: Sputnik V and AstraZeneca vaccines not effective in fighting Indian variant ‘in a way’ – GHS

The Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Asiedu Bekoe has said that the Sputnik V and AstraZeneca vaccines are, in a way, not as effective as Pfizer’s, in fighting the Indian variant of Covid-19.

Dr Bekoe was responding to a question posed by host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Tuesday.

Host of the Show, Kojo Yankson, asked for his opinion on a statement made by Head of West Africa Center for Cell Biology and Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) of the University of Ghana Professor Gordon Awendare.

Dr Bekoe said, “I think that what Prof Awandare said is true in a way. I think what he meant was that the Sputnik and AstraZeneca vaccines are less effective. It’s not that it does not work [but] Pfizer is more effective.”

Professor Gordon Awendare, had said on JoyPrime’s Prime Morning, Monday, that the most contagious Covid-19 variant, originating from India, had been recorded in Ghana.

He therefore expressed concerned about the efficacy of the vaccines being used to prevent the spread of the disease in Ghana, “Now we have to be looking at the right vaccines. All this while, we’ve been fixed on AstraZeneca and Sputnik V, but we have to shift towards more Pfizer and others which have a better chance of protecting against this variant. Because the future is, we are going towards these aggressive variants,” he said

The Indian variant, also known as the Delta variant, is one of the 45 variants which are currently in Ghana.

This variant has caused huge spikes in India and a serious increase in cases in the UK even though large sections of the population in those countries are vaccinated.