The hope of getting Covid-19 vaccine to save the world may be ready in 2021, Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye has said.
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He explained that, new drugs must pass through three iterative phases of clinical trials before being deemed safe and effective for widespread use.
He revealed this on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme, Tuesday while discussing measures put in place by the government to control the situation after Ghana recorded six cases.
The GHS boss explained that, clinical trials, an essential precursor to regulatory approval, usually take place in three phases.
“The first, involving a few dozen healthy volunteers, tests the vaccine for safety, monitoring for adverse effects. The second, involving several hundred people, usually in a part of the world affected by the disease, looks at how effective the vaccine is, and the third does the same in several thousand people,” he noted.
Therefore, Dr Aboagye said though scientists are racing to create a vaccine, it might be ready “early next year.”
Conceding that, there are some experimental drugs ready for use, the GHS boss said it only treats symptoms of the virus.
This notwithstanding, Dr Aboagye said if Ghanaians follow the safety measures rolled out, the rate of infection would be minimised.
