Germany in March 2021 suspended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, owing to incidents of blood clotting in people below age 60. This decision came about after the country’s medicine regulator, The Paul Ehrlich Institute, found 31 cases of a rare type of blood clot in people vaccinated with the vaccine.
Fast forward to August 2021, five months after this suspension, the German government is set to give the Ghanaian government 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
This, according to the Director of Communication at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, is as a result of discussions between The President, Akufo-Addo and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, following Germany’s offer to Africa of up to 70 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.
Does Germany’s suspension of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have any play in their release of 70 million doses to Africa, of which 1.5 million is coming to Ghana?
Well, some social media users seem to think so.
Following the announcement of Ghana’s gift of 1.5 million doses of the vaccine, some social media users have questioned the intent behind the gesture with posts like the one below being seen online.
Image source: Instagram
A March 12, 2021 report by Aljazeera has listed countries that have stopped using the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, listing Germany among the countries cited. The report, which states that over a dozen countries, mostly located in Europe, have held-off the use of the vaccine in states that Germany did the same as a precautionary measure while investigations were carried out of the cases involving the blood clots.
In May, 2021, however, Germany opened up AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines for all adults. This was after the suspension, which disallowed adults below 60-years from taking the shots, was lifted, indicating its safety for use. This decision was arrived at between the German federal and state officials as they concluded that the shot had far higher benefits than risks.
WHO’s take on Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine
The World Health Organisation has issued interim recommendations for the use of the vaccine with directives for use by health workers at high risk of exposure to the coronavirus and older people, including those aged 65 and above.
In the guidance document, updated July 30, 2021, this vaccine is intended for use by people 18 years and above, regardless of a very rare syndrome of blood clotting combined with low platelet counts with the majority of such cases having been recorded in the United Kingdom and The European Union countries.
In general, the WHO considers the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine safe for use after it underwent SAGE consideration and the European Medicines Agency review.
A video of a man claiming, among other things, that recipients of the COVID-19 jab will die within five years has gone viral.
The man, who identifies himself as Dr Sean Brooks, said that recipients of the vaccine will die because of a dramatic decrease in their immune system, antibody-dependent enhancement, and blood clotting.
He made the claim at the Talawanda School District Board meeting on August 16, 2021, at a discussion of COVID-19 protocols.
The meeting was streamed on YouTube and can be found here.
Since its publishing on August 21, 2021, the 4minute video has recorded over 241,000 views with over 1,000 comments.
Screenshot of a YouTube channel that had uploaded a clip of Sean Brooks speaking at the Talawanda School District Board meeting
Who is Dr. Sean Brooks?
Dubawa ran an online search to help establish the identity of the man as he said he had “48 publications including 23 books” and had “studied health medicine, anatomy and physiology for approximately 21 years.”
Insufficient information was found about him, thus raising questions about his expertise to make such claims.
Further, a 2018 research project written by one Sean M. Brooks of Walden University was unearthed in our search. It was titled “Urban High School Educators; Perceptions of Pre-Service and In-Service Conflict Resolution and Violence Prevention Education.”
From minute 3:38, the host made reference to the viral video and gave Sean M. Brooks an opportunity to express his concerns further.
(L-R) Alex Jones and Sean Brooks on ‘The Alex Jones Show’
A video published on Bitchute.com in March 2020, featured the same Sean M. Brooks who appeared on the Alex Jones Show.
In that video, he is introduced (28:47) as having obtained his bachelor’s degree in Education from Miami University in Ohio, and a master’s degree and PhD from Walden University. Miami University is located in Oxford, Ohio, United States of America.
Screenshot of Sean M. Brooks in the video published on Bitchute
We delve into the claims made by Brooks.
Claim 1: “The people who have taken it [COVID-19 vaccines] are going to die in the next six months to two to three years to five years,” Dr Brooks said at the meeting.
No mass deaths have been recorded even after several months of vaccinations globally. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Centre for Disease Control say the vaccines are safe for use.
In Africa, South Africa started their vaccination programme in February 2021, with Ghana commencing in March 2021. Figures from the WHO also indicate that a total of 9,962,111 vaccine doses have been administered in South Africa as of 23rd August 2021.
In these countries where vaccinations have been ongoing for close to a year, there have been no reports of mass deaths nor disturbing complications.
“More than 363 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the United States from December 14, 2020, through August 23, 2021. During this time, VAERS received 6,968 reports of death (0.0019%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine…Reports of adverse events to VAERS following vaccination, including deaths, do not necessarily mean that a vaccine caused a health problem. A review of available clinical information, including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records, has not established a causal link to COVID-19 vaccines. However, recent reports indicate a plausible causal relationship between the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine and TTS, a rare and serious adverse event—blood clots with low platelets—which has caused deaths,” the report reads.
What does CDC say about Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) following COVID-19 vaccination?
A May 2021 report on TTS by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) says that the condition is rare, clinically serious and can be life-threatening. It suggests a “plausible causal association with the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine” with symptoms occurring within two weeks of vaccination. TTS is common among women between the ages of 18-49.
The CDC recommends early diagnosis and treatment of TTS.
Claim 2: “You’ve dramatically decreased your own immune system by 35 per cent. The first jab did it by at least 15 [per cent] and the second did it by 35 [per cent]. If you take any booster shot, you will die,” Sean Brooks claims.
The WHO says the vaccines rather build the immunity of persons who are vaccinated.
Brooks’ claim that vaccinated individuals’ immunity is decreased is neither backed by science nor experts.
According to the WHO, immunity against the disease rather increases after taking the vaccine.
Claim 3: “Antibody-dependent enhancement is what is happening with these jabs with everybody who has taken them unless of course, you have taken a placebo but there is no way you will know that,” said Sean Brooks.
There have been no verified reports of ADE occurring as a result of COVID-19 vaccines.
Sean Brooks said that recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine will die because the jab will cause antibody-dependent enhancement.
“Antibody-dependent enhancement is what is happening with these jabs with everybody who has taken them unless of course you have taken a placebo but there is no way you will know that. Given that fact, the antibody-dependent enhancement tricks the entire body into believing that the cell that’s eating the pathogen is eating it when it isn’t. It ends up leading to what is called a cytokine storm which causes organ failure. That will cause your death and there is stopping that. No amount of drugs will stop that,” he said at the meeting.
An article published on health-desk.org explains what antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) is.
“Sometimes, after developing antibodies to the disease, our immune system can overreact the next time it gets exposed to the disease. This is a very rare phenomenon called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE),” it says.
It noted however that “there have been no verified reports of ADE occurring as a result of COVID-19 vaccines” adding that in the process of making COVID-19 vaccines, scientists developed vaccine strategies around avoiding ADE. Some of these strategies included the specific targeting of a SARS-CoV-2 protein that was the least likely to cause ADE in early vaccine design.
Other research published here assert that “clinical data has not yet fully established a role for ADE in human COVID-19 pathology.”
This position is not different from what has been published in this report on why ADE has not been a problem with COVID-19 vaccines.
“Scientists say that ADE is pretty much a non-issue with COVID-19 vaccines, but what are they basing this on? From the early stages of COVID-19 vaccine development, scientists sought to target a SARS-CoV-2 protein that was least likely to cause ADE. For example, when they found out that targeting the nucleoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 might cause ADE, they quickly abandoned that approach. The safest route seemed to be targeting the S2 subunit of the spike protein, and they ran with that, wrote Derek Lowe, PhD, in his Science Translational Medicine blog “In the Pipeline,” part of the article reads.
Claim 4: “Everyone who is taking the jabs is blood clotting,” says Sean Brooks.
Although there have been reports of experts say it is a rare side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine.
An article published on the health page of the University of UTAH describes blood clotting as “a collection of blood cells and coagulation proteins that clump together, forming a gel-like substance in the blood system that can obstruct blood flow”.
“Data from the UK suggest the risk is approximately four cases per million adults (1 case per 250,000 who receive the vaccine, while the rate is estimated to be approximately 1 per 100,000 in the European Union,” GACVS’ review reads.
This report was produced under the Dubawa Student Fact-checking Project aimed at offering students in tertiary schools aspiring to take up roles in the profession the opportunity to acquire real-world experience through verification and fact-checking.
The spread of Covid-19 has largely been associated with coughing and sneezing. Consequently many studies into oral spread of Covid-19 have resulted in findings that indicate that talking and breathing can also contribute to the spread of the virus. Pertaining to talking, much has been said about how different languages vary in the possible transmission of the coronavirus, with English leading the pack in languages believed to spread the coronavirus easily.
A study conducted by researchers at the RUDN University, Russia, and University of Nicosia, Cyprus has found that indeed, English speakers are more likely to spread COVID-19 than other language speakers. The study suggests that persons who speak English put out more saliva droplets into the air, thereby increasing the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
In the English language, the aspirated consonants (i.e. the sounds that are accompanied by exhalation) include /p, t, k/. These sounds throw myriad tiny droplets from the speaker’s respiratory tract into the air, thereby leading to a cloud of spit – the lead researchers, Georgios P. Georgiou and Ahmad Kilani have said.
That means carriers of the COVID-19 virus, who speak the English language, send viral particles into the air, particles which are said to linger in the air for a period between 8 to 14 minutes.
The study looked at data from 26 countries with more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases as of March 23, 2020. There were more cases of virus spread in countries that spoke languages with aspirated consonants – those countries recorded 255 cases of COVID-19 per 1 million residents, while countries with languages that had few aspirated consonants showed 206 cases of COVID-19 per 1 million residents.
Dubawa spoke to Dr. Kwabena Opoku-Agyemang, English Lecturer at the University of Ghana, who confirmed that the nature of English pronunciations can cause production of more saliva droplets than other languages will do.
“The [research] explains the phenomenon through the use of aspirated consonants. It is true, due to the nature of pronunciation,” he said.
Additionally, a letter published in the medical journal, The Lancet, on the outbreak of SARS-CoV-1 supported the indication that the disease could have been more easily transmitted in certain languages, especially Chinese and English. The author argued that the Japanese aspirated stops like /p/, which are also said to produce droplets, are not used as much in comparison to English.
Spread of Aerosol Particles
An Immunologist with the West African Center for Cell Biology and Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), Dr. Yaw Bediako, believes all languages cause spitting of saliva droplets, or lead to the production of aerosolized particles while recent studies also state that ‘normal talking’ can emit thousands of small particles that can linger in the air for over 10 minutes.
This research further confirms that “whereas large droplets fall quickly to the ground, small droplets can dehydrate and linger as ‘droplet nuclei’ in the air, where they behave like an aerosol and thereby expand the spatial extent of emitted infectious pathogens.”
As seen in the above photos, numerous droplets, ranging from 20 to 500 μm, were generated when a person said “stay healthy.”
“The brightness of the flashes reflected the size of the particles and the fraction of time they were present in a single 16.7-msec frame of the video.”
“The number of flashes in a single frame of the video was highest when the “th” sound in the word “healthy” was pronounced (Figure 1A),” the Journal explained.
Conclusion
The research on SARS, which dates back to 2003, confirms that through the use and pronunciation of aspirated consonants, /p, t, k/, English speakers throw out more saliva droplets into the air, a phenomenon that can spread COVID-19.
This report was produced under the Dubawa Student Fact-checking Project aimed at offering students in tertiary schools aspiring to take up roles in the profession the opportunity to acquire real-world experience through verification and fact-checking.
Since the Coronavirus became a pandemic, there have been new variations of the virus which have left scientists researching daily to find more clues about it. Scientists and health experts call this process mutation. Mutation, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute (NIH) , is a change in a DNA sequence which can be as a result of DNA copying mistakes made during cell division, exposure to ionizing radiation, exposure to chemicals called mutagens, or infection by viruses. Viruses do this to adapt and survive in new environments.
According to the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, emerged in India and is currently widespread. Evidence suggests that it is potentially more transmissible than other variants.
The CDC has indicated that the Delta variant can spread more easily in indoor settings than other variants. Currently, the Delta variant has been detected in more than 60 countries including Ghana. As of early July, it has become the dominant form of the coronavirus in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and other countries. In the U.K., for instance, the Delta variant now makes up more than 97% of new COVID-19 cases, according to Public Health England.
Are the symptoms of the Delta variant different?
Public health officials say the symptoms of the Delta variant are similar to those seen with the original coronavirus strain and other variants. This includes persistent cough, headache, fever, and sore throat which are symptoms already associated with the first strain of coronavirus.
However, WebMD reports that some COVID-19 patients in the UK have reported slightly different symptoms for the Delta variant, according to data from the ZOE COVID Symptom Study. Cough and loss of smell seem to be less common. Headache, sore throat, runny nose, and fever seem to be more common.
How Deadly is the Delta Variant?
A recent study by The Lancet indicates that, given its faster spread, the Delta variant is likely to increase hospitalization and deaths, especially in people who have not received any of the approved vaccines.
Health experts say the approved vaccines have shown some effectiveness against the Delta variant. According to Public Health England, a preliminary analysis has shown that two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine appeared to be about 88% effective against disease prevention and 96% effective against hospitalization with respect to the Delta variant. The AstraZeneca vaccine, which has not been authorized for use in the U.S., was about 60% effective against disease and 93% effective against hospitalization.
Claim: Social media posts suggest magnets are sticking to the jab area on peoples arms because there are magnetic elements in the Covid-19 vaccines.
Senior medical officials have dispelled these assertions.
Full Text
Videos and photos circulating on various social media platforms are suggesting that magnets and metals have been found to stick to the arm, particularly at the area the Covid-19 jab is administered, after taking a dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
The videos and photos claiming this has been posted across various social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.
Social media users are using the hashtag, #MagnetChallenge as tags on these posts.
In a video, the man, appearing in a police uniform, made an exhibition to back the claims.
Image: The unidentified Ghanaian man claiming that he could stick a phone to the arm after taking the jab.
Verification
For there to be a magnetic attraction, there must be magnetic elements in the area where there is the attraction.
Since these persons linked the supposed magnetic attraction to the Covid-19 jab, we checked the composition of some of the vaccines, including Sputnik V and Astrazeneca, which are being administered in Ghana, to ascertain if they have magnetic properties.
Producers of the Pfizer-Biontech Covid-19 vaccine have listed MRNA, lipids, potassium chloride, monobasic potassium phosphate, sodium chloride, dibasic sodium phosphate dihydrate, and sucrose as its ingredients.
The ingredients in this vaccine include Tris-(hydroxymethyl)-aminomethane, Sodium chloride, Sucrose, Magnesium chloride hexahydrate, Disodium EDTA dihydrate, Polysorbate 80, Ethanol, and Water.
The Astrazeneca Vaccine is made from a modified adenovirus which causes the common cold in chimpanzees. This virus has been modified so that it cannot cause an infection. It is used to deliver the genetic code for the coronavirus spike protein. The vaccine also contains inactive ingredients such as polysorbate 80, an emulsifier, and a very small amount of alcohol (0.002mg per dose). The vaccine also contains traces of magnesium (3 to 20 parts per million).
Investigation in the composition of these elements show that they do not contain metals that could, in any way, be magnetic.
Furthermore, Eric C. Palmer of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, says that no significant quantity of magnet to cause a magnetic effect can be injected into the arm considering the size of the needle used in the vaccination.
“The vaccine needles are extremely small, a fraction of a millimetre in size. So even if you inject an extremely magnetic particle, it would be so small in size that there wouldn’t be enough force on it to actually keep a magnet stuck to your skin,” he told the BBC in an interview.
Ghana’s Presidential advisor on health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, says that these claims are being peddled by persons of the anti-vaccine movement and has urged the public to ignore such claims.
He stressed that the vaccines that are being administered are safe for the public.
“There is no iota of truth in what they are saying. It is a complete hoax. There is nothing that you can have a metal attached to your hand unless you have implanted a magnet inside there. The bone, muscle, blood vessels, skin and subskin do not have magnetic properties so it beats my imagination,” he told Dubawa Ghana.
The Director of the West Africa Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) at the University of Ghana, Gordon A. Awandare has described these claims as a hoax.
He says that people making such assertions are doing so with the motive of discouraging others from taking the jab.
“These are pranks that people are playing. There is nothing like that. I have taken the vaccine and there is nothing wrong. People should ignore these videos and shouldn’t even give them the attention they are getting. This is a total hoax, there is nothing like that. These are people who are anti-vaccine people and they just do propaganda to discourage people from taking the vaccine so you should not even tolerate this kind of mischief,” he said in an interview with Dubawa Ghana.
Conclusion
It is not true that the coronavirus jab is causing magnetic effects in the arm. It has not been proven scientifically that a medical condition can cause such an effect, unless there is a magnetic implantation in that part of the body.
This report was produced under the Dubawa Student Fact-checking Project aimed at offering students in tertiary schools aspiring to take up roles in the profession the opportunity to acquire real-world experience through verification and fact-checking.
Claim: Akufo-Addo received a malaria vaccine, not coronavirus jab – Hassan Ayariga alleges.
President Akufo-Addo received a COVID-19 vaccine, not a malaria vaccine. The malaria vaccine is currently being piloted in selected parts of the country and is being administered to children between two and six years of age.
Full Text
Hassan Ayariga, 2020 flagbearer of the All People’s Congress (APC), has alleged that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo is yet to receive the real COVID-19 vaccine.
According to him, the President received a malaria vaccine and not a COVID-19 vaccine, on March 1, 2021, during a live televised event to kickstart Ghana’s COVID-19 National Vaccination Programme.
The claim was published on Ghanaweb in an interview to be aired on Monday, June 14, 2021, on GhanaWebTV.
“Ghana is the first country to take the vaccine, the president went and they gave him malaria vaccine and you call it corona vaccine, that was not corona vaccine. I’m sure he took malaria vaccine, that’s politics for you,” he claimed.
Verification
Ghana received over 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines under the WHO / UNICEF – led equitable vaccine distribution platform, COVAX.
Screenshots of President Akuffo Addo receiving the first shoot of COVID-19 Vaccines
In the video that showed the president taking the jab, nurses from the hospital administered the vaccines to the president and his spouse, publicly showing the bottles of the AstraZeneca vaccine that were used.
Also, photo evidence is available to show the exact bottle and the content that was given to the president, also shown below:
About the Malaria Vaccine: Are they available and are adults eligible?
The claim that President Akuffo Addo took a malaria vaccine is also false.
RTS, S is the first, and to date, the only vaccine that has demonstrated it can significantly reduce malaria, and life-threatening severe malaria, in young children. Beginning in 2019, three sub-Saharan African countries – Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi – are leading the introduction of the vaccine in selected areas of moderate-to-high malaria transmission as part of a large-scale pilot programme coordinated by WHO.
Screenshot of eligibility for the malaria vaccine
Specifically, the MVIP will assess the feasibility of administering the recommended four doses of the vaccine in children; the vaccine’s potential role in reducing childhood deaths; and its safety in the context of routine use. Data and information derived from the pilot will inform a WHO policy recommendation on the broader use of the vaccine.
The vaccine is currently being implemented as a pilot under the malaria vaccine implementation programme (MVIP) and integrated into the EPI in Ghana.
It is given to targeted children from six to two years of age.
Not even all children in the implementing countries are covered, hence, it is very unlikely an adult like the President will be given a malaria vaccine.
These two six-month-old babies were among the first to receive the new malaria vaccine during the national launch of the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme in Ghana.
Listening to Mr. Ayariga in the interview, he did not specify any evidence at his disposal but only claimed that:
“You see, we Africans we are dumb! A white man will never give you something good first when it is too good before himself, never. They have produced all those vaccines. Tell me, how many of these white countries have started taking the vaccine?”
Was Ghana the first country to start COVID-19 vaccinations? Even before the “white” countries?
The claim that no “white country started taking the vaccine” before Ghana is false.
On December 20, then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was inoculated against COVID-19. He along with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein got vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine live on television.
Then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu taking his vaccine.
Several other notable figures, including Queen Elizabeth, Kamala Harris, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman are reported to have taken a COVID-19 vaccine.
Conclusion
It is evident from this fact check, among other things, that President Akufo-Addo is not eligible for the current malaria vaccine and therefore will not have been given that in place of a COVID-19 jab. It is also not true that no “white” country started the vaccination roll-out before Ghana launched hers on March 1, 2021. Therefore, Mr Ayariga’s claim that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo took a malaria vaccine instead of the coronavirus vaccine is completely FALSE.
The Fact Checker produced this fact-check per the 2021 Kwame Karikari Fact-checking Fellowship in partnership with ADARS FM (RADIO) to facilitate the ethos of truth in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.
Information available suggests although there are some indications of COVID-19 causing some rare cases of macroglossia (a medical term for an unusually large tongue which causes difficulty in eating, speaking, swallowing and even sleeping) not much is known as to why yet. Furthermore, unlike the claim that these cases are permanent, they are actually treatable with surgery.
The case of the massive enlargement of the tongue
In Houston, doctors have recorded some cases of massively enlarged tongues in patients who had been hospitalized due to COVID-19. According to news reports on the matter, the condition is called macroglossia, which presents with an unusually large tongue which causes difficulty in eating, speaking, swallowing and even sleeping.
In macroglossia’s relation to COVID-19, Melville is of the view that these cases may have to do with “where the virus attaches itself and the body’s immune response to it”.
It was further suggested that patients who survived the virus had inflammatory cells in their tongue tissue which suggests that there is something about the virus that makes certain individuals prone to the rare condition.
Breakdown of the cases recorded so far
Of the nine cases recorded, eight of the patients were of black descent. Two of them had suffered from strokes and seven of them had been hospitalized with COVID-19 prior to developing macroglossia.
Can it be treated?
Yes! Unlike the claim in question suggests, the condition is not permanent as it can be corrected through a 45 minute surgery. Melville is conducting a study to find what links there may be between recovered COVID-19 patients and macroglossia.
Currently, one of the effective ways to stay protected against COVID-19 virus is to get a shot of any of the approved vaccines. Since the first jab was given in December 2020, several questions have been asked about efficacy and safety. Although medical experts and scientists are still studying the virus, symptoms and the vaccine, the World Health Organization (WHO) has assured of its safety and effectiveness in fighting the pandemic.
Is a single dose enough to protect me?
According to the requirements of some of the approved vaccines, (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna), individuals will be fully protected from coronavirus after they have taken two doses of the vaccine. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has advised people to get their second shot, even if they have side effects after the first shot, unless a vaccination provider or their doctor tells them not to get it.
In Ghana, for instance, the first set of vaccines was rolled out on March 2, 2021, giving people the opportunity to get their first dose. After more than 10 weeks of receiving the first dose, people who received their first jab are required to take a second dose as has been prescribed by global health agencies.
However, here’s one question that is still bothering several people: Do I necessarily need a second dose?
The answer to this question depends on the type of vaccine one’s country has been administering. According to the CDC, people who receive a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine will need 2 shots to get the most protection.
A third vaccine, AstraZeneca, also requires a second shot to be effective. However, the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine by Johnson and Johnson requires only a single dose.
A December 2020 Pfizer data report suggested that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is roughly 52% effective after the first dose. This report from a preclinical trial demonstrated that a single dose was not enough to maximize one’s protection from the virus. The report further indicates that taking the second dose is 95% effective at preventing the disease after a week.
What should be the timing intervals between the first and the second shot?
Although Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna require a second shot, the interval between when one should get a second shot differs. According to the CDC, people who receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine would have to get their second shot three weeks (or 21 days) after their first.
For other vaccines like Moderna, the CDC states that the second shot should be taken four weeks (or 28 days) after the first.
For Vaccines like AstraZeneca which was administered in Ghana, health experts say the second dose can be administered between four and 12 weeks after the first shot.
For Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, it is advised that a second shot be taken as close to the recommended three-week or four-week interval as possible. However, in cases where there is a delay, the second dose may be given up to six weeks (42 days) after the first dose, if necessary.
Research and clinical trials have demonstrated that COVID-19 vaccine protection starts from about two weeks after the second dose.
Can I take the second dose earlier than recommended?
No. According to the CDC, one should not get the second dose earlier than recommended by manufacturers and health professionals. This is because there is currently limited information on the effectiveness of receiving your second shot earlier than recommended or later than six weeks after the first shot.
However, people do not have to restart the entire vaccination process if they receive the second shot of COVID-19 vaccine earlier or later than recommended.
Have you recently considered taking the COVID-19 vaccine? Are you worried you might be asked to test for the virus before vaccination? Or concerned that your neighbour who took the vaccine wasn’t tested?
This last question prompted a Twitter user with the name Godwin Boateng to tweet at Dubawa recently. Boateng would like to know why Covid-19 tests are not being conducted before vaccines are administered.
To answer his question, we set out to find information on the vaccine administration and why tests are not being run before the jabs.
Indeed, unlike other vaccinations for diseases such as Hepatitis B that may require individuals to be tested for the disease before getting vaccinated, the COVID-19 inoculation is different.
According to Dr Kasule Iddrisu Yakubu, a Medical Officer at Bolga Regional Hospital, “vaccines are for prevention, not treatment”, and it is on that basis that people who are tested and found to be infected with Hepatitis B are not vaccinated.
He also added that in some cases, like Hepatitis B, people may never be cured completely and thus taking the vaccine is of no use. He is, however, unsure why the same is not being done with the Covid-19 vaccinations.
Generally, information available online suggests that there is no need for COVID-19 tests to be run on people before being tested, especially if there are no symptoms showing signs of contraction.
Here is what we know.
You do not need to be tested before getting the shot if you have no symptoms.
“At this time, CDC is not recommending that anyone be tested for active or prior infection before getting vaccinated for COVID-19.” It did not, however, indicate to us why this is the case.
“No, you don’t need to be tested beforehand unless you are having COVID-19 symptoms, in which case you should be. But even if you get a vaccine and you are infected with the coronavirus and you don’t have any symptoms, it’s fine, it’s not dangerous, go ahead and get vaccinated,” Dr. Mallik Marshall said in an interview with CBS Boston.
Do not go for the shot if you have symptoms of the disease (sudden loss of smell and taste, muscle aches, fever, difficulty in breathing, a cough or fatigue).
“No. People with COVID-19 who have symptoms should wait to be vaccinated until they have recovered from their illness and have met the criteria for discontinuing isolation; those without symptoms should also wait until they meet the criteria before getting vaccinated. This guidance also applies to people who get COVID-19 before getting their second dose of vaccine.”
Another angle to why people with symptoms should refrain from going to the vaccination centers is that, according to an abcnews report, there is a risk of infecting other people.
If you had the disease and have recovered, you can still get vaccinated.
This is supported by some studies which suggest that waiting for up to three months after being infected with COVID-19 can be beneficial to patients as there are chances the body will generate greater immune response to the virus.
A study, “SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Response in Persons with Past Natural Infection”, which examined Italian health care workers found that recovered patients are more likely to to have a higher antibody response if they waited up to three months after recovery before getting their first shot of the Pfizer vaccine.
Another study, “Antibody Responses in Seropositive Persons after a Single Dose of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccine”, also found that people who previously had COVID-19 generated similar or stronger antibody response after a single dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine as compared to people who had never contracted the COVID-19 disease who had received two doses of the vaccines previously mentioned.
“Yes, you should be vaccinated regardless of whether you already had COVID-19. That’s because experts do not yet know how long you are protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19. Even if you have already recovered from COVID-19, it is possible—although rare—that you could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 again.”
All-in-all, tests are not a must before getting the COVID-19 vaccination. However, it is important that the spread of the virus is mitigated by avoiding vaccination centers when one exhibits COVID-19 symptoms.
Even before the world could find a vaccine for coronavirus, a lot of conspiracy theories had been churned out on many platforms including social media. From altering DNAs to enlarging the male sexual organ, misinformation peddlers would not stop at anything to make sure people rejected the vaccines. The misinformation on vaccines became alarming when the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners started rolling out the vaccines.
In all of this, one of the most circulated claims on social media about the vaccines is that relating to fertility. Several social media users have shared messages regarding this with no particular source cited. Some of them have claimed that men and women who have the intention of getting pregnant in future should not take the vaccine as it may make them sterile and infertile (See some of the claims in the screenshots below).
Aside from these social media claims, other people have concerns on the safety of the vaccines in relation to fertility.
In this report, we find out what experts say about the vaccines and fertility in both men and women.
Will an approved COVID-19 vaccine make one infertile?
The general safety of approved COVID-19 vaccines has already been established by the WHO. The organization has indicated that “before receiving validation from WHO and national regulatory agencies, COVID-19 vaccines must undergo rigorous testing in clinical trials to prove that they meet internationally agreed benchmarks for safety and effectiveness.”
“While fertility was not specifically studied in the clinical trials of the vaccine, no loss of fertility has been reported among trial participants or among the millions who have received the vaccines since their authorization, and no signs of infertility appeared in animal studies. Loss of fertility is scientifically unlikely,” the three organizations said in a joint statement.
Do you Need to Delay Getting Pregnant after Vaccination?
Furthermore, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has also indicated that people do not need to delay getting pregnant after getting a dose of the vaccine as “there is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility.”
According to another publication by University of Chicago School of Medicine, women can still go ahead and take the second dose of the vaccine even after finding out they are pregnant after the first dose. According to the publication, the “only possible risk physicians are currently aware of with the vaccine is the possibility of a fever following the second dose, a side effect experienced by around 10-15% of vaccine recipients.”
Nonetheless, a publication by WebMD suggests that Pfizer, one of the pharmaceutical companies producing COVID-19 vaccines, is studying its two-dose vaccine in 4,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women to see how safe the effects of Covid-19 vaccines are. The report further says that the researchers will also look at how safe the vaccine is for infants and whether mothers pass along antibodies to children. Results of this study are expected to be ready by the end of year, according to the report.
Yes. Experts at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say it is safe for breastfeeding women to get the vaccine. According to them “there is no need to stop breastfeeding if you want to get a vaccine. After you get vaccinated, the antibodies made by your body can be passed through breastmilk and can help protect your child from the virus.”
While studies are still being done on the effects of COVID-19 Vaccines, reputable health agencies such as the CDC and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have indicated that none of the vaccines rolled out so far has been found to make men and women infertile.
