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Director of Public Health of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Franklin Asiedu Bekoe has refuted reports the AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines are not effective against the new Indian COVID-19 variant called Delta variant.

The Delta variant is said to be the most contagious Covid-19 variant and it originates from India.

The new variant has been recorded in Ghana.

Head of the West Africa Center for Cell Biology and Infectious Pathogens, WACCBIP, of the University of Ghana, Professor Gordon Awendare confirmed that the Delta variant is one of the forty-five (45) variants currently in Ghana.

“Overall we have about 45 or 46 different variants. The trend shows that all these normally come from travellers. Now that the Delta (Indian Variant) is taking over, it’s just a matter of time before it will come here in large quantities. We have a few here but it’s going to increase,” Professor Awendare said on Joy Prime.

Professor Awendare added; “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 of Pfizer and others which have a better chance of protecting against this variant. Because the future is, we are going towards these aggressive variants”.

Also, the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified this coronavirus variant as a “variant of global concern”.

The news has pumped fears into some Ghanaians and even more frightening is the report that those who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine is at risk to this new variant.

Speaking in an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi, Dr. Franklin Asiedu Bekoe says there is no cause for alarm.

He revealed the AstraZeneca is still effective despite the Delta variant.

"The vaccine we received is not water. It's so effective," he stated.

"One thing that's most important is what we call population immunity . . . For now, government is trying to see that we will get more vaccines and then we can build that immunity. I think to state the vaccine, AstraZeneca, is so effective," he further explained.

Dr. Bekoe advised the citizenry to strictly adhere to the protocols with particular emphasis on wearing of their nose masks, social and physical distancing.