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Research Coordinator at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Susan Adu Amankwah has chastised Members of Parliament who angrily called for the suspension of the Ebola vaccine trial in Ghana.

MPs from both the Majority and Minority vehemently opposed the trial, which was to happen in Hohoe in the Volta Region calling for its suspension.

Some Members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Volta Region called on the Ministry of Health to halt the trials which they described as “unfortunate.” 

But speaking to Citi News, Susan Adu Amankwah said the position taken by the MPs stem from ignorance rather than due diligence.

She argued that “your parliamentarians enacted a law, the Public Health Act, which gives powers to the FDA to look at everything concerning a clinical trial, did they not know that?”

“Parliamentarians are enacting laws they have no knowledge about? That is so disappointing,” she fumed.

Susan Adu Amankwah  further explained that the Ebola vaccine trial will not in anyway infect citizens with the deadly Ebola Virus.

“Nobody is going to infect anyone with any virus it is not done anywhere. We are coming to look at how safe the drug is. That is why in phase one trial, people are monitored rigorously and you take a small number of people that you can monitor rigorously,” she added.

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) gave an international pharmaceutical company approval to commence Ebola Vaccines trial in Ghana.

The Ministry of Health subsequently suspended the trials after several calls from the MPs and various stakeholders who argued the exercise poses a risk to residents in the area.