Monrovia — A recent report circulating social media claiming that a middle-aged lady died instantly after taking the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has been dispelled by Liberia’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Francis Kateh, terming it as “false and misleading”.
Report By: Arthur Kowah, Local Voices Liberia Reporter
Dr. Kateh has, however, confirmed there were complications after the woman, whose name has been withheld, took a shot of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine after she had previously taken the Oxford-AstraZeneca Jab.
According to Dr. Kateh, taking two different types of the COVID-19 caused her to go in comma for a few minutes. However, he said the lady has now fully recovered.
Dr. Kateh warned against people ignoring warning against people taking two different types of COVID-19 vaccines.
While research is still ongoing to ascertain the possibility of mixing vaccines from different manufacturers, an article published by Reuters in July shows that at the moment, the World Health Organization has warned individuals against mixing COVID-19 vaccines.
The article quotes World Health Organization’s chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan as saying that mixing of vaccines from different manufacturers is “a little bit of a dangerous trend”. She cautioned that such decision should be left to public health authorities based on available data.
It can be recalled that upon receiving the first consignment of 96,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX facility on April 1, 2021, health authorities in Liberia began mass vaccine administration across the country.
But the National Public Heath Institute of Liberia disclosed in July that 9,120 persons out of a population of over 4.5 million people received the two required doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines. However, over 90,000 people, who took their single dose, are still awaiting the arrival of the second dose. The MoH has recently announced that a consignment of AstraZeneca vaccines will be in the country soon.
On July 25, Liberia received 302,400 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines donated by the United States Government through the COVAX facility — a partnership of CEPI, GAVI, UNICEF and WHO collaboration to expand the COVID-19 vaccination coverage to low-income countries.
