As we are all aware, the COVID-19 vaccination exercise has started nationwide.

Speaking to a medical professional about the myths that aroused when the vaccines were first imported into the country, he stated that, there is nothing to fear about as the vaccines are safe, to solidify the argument, the vaccination started with health workers and a few other categories of the population first.

The Ghanaian government has made it possible for all of us to have access to these vaccines to enable us to get this pandemic behind us and we all have the responsibility to give him our full support.

In his statement, he encourages all Ghanaians to make it an effort to partake in this exercise, not only for our good but also for the good of our colleagues, our family, and society.

Drawing our attention to few things that might happen when you take the vaccine, and how to handle it when it happens, he said the vaccination helps protect us from getting the COVID-19, and we are likely to have some side effects. These are just normal signs that show that our body is building protection. Once the vaccine gets into your body, the body starts acting to build up the immunity and the initial reaction is what some of us will experience but others are likely not to experience anything at all. It is just like when the mothers take their babies for weighing for immunization, some of the babies might run temperature while others won’t. What the mothers are encouraged to do is to give them some paracetamol, and then it goes away.

Talking about the symptoms, below are what you might experience after taking the vaccination he said;

1.  Chills
2. Fever
3. Running a temperature
4. Tiredness and,
5. Headaches

The symptoms may make you feel like you are recovering from malaria or something like that. Those are some of the initial symptoms that some of us will get but these will go away in a few days.

What to do before and after the Vaccination

About what to do before and after the vaccination, he advised that before you go for the vaccination, try and drink plenty of fluids/water to get a lot of water before and after the vaccination and then also, if you start feeling headaches or joint pains, or bodily pains, take two (2) tablets of paracetamol or ibuprofen to help within a few hours. Some might also experience pain and a little swell around the injection site and when that happens, apply a cold wet towel over that area for a while, and then take some pain killers, and after a while, that one also goes away.

He advised people who might get other symptoms apart from what he has mentioned to kindly visit the nearest medical center for further assistance/treatment. He assured everyone not to panic.

One other thing he cited is that, pregnant women are not to take the vaccine at the moment as Ghana Health Service is yet to come out with much information as to how and when to vaccinate.

In summary

In summary, all should remember that the side effects might be like having headaches, fever, chills, tiredness, body pains but all of these will go away taking lots of fluids and a pain killer as mentioned above and we should remember also that it takes a bit of time for the body to build protection after the vaccine. Usually, it requires about two weeks or more. So, after the vaccination, the COVID-19 protocols that we already know about should be continued. Hand sanitizing, putting on our face masks, Social distancing, and all the others that we have already been told before.

One more thing also we need to remember is that, because we need the body’s immunity to have the chance to work as perfectly as possible, there is the need to avoid alcohol at least two days before you take the vaccine and then about two weeks after the vaccine before you start taking alcohol because alcohol intake does affect the body’s immunity, so taking in such substances might reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine and should be avoided.

Thank you.