The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has asked the public not to patronize products offered online supposedly being advertised as COVID-19 vaccines.

The FDA issued the alert in a statement released on Tuesday, March 9, 2021.

According to the FDA, the alert has become necessary as a result of reports of the seizure of fake COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa.

“The FDA wishes to caution the general public that online advertising, offering for sale and supply of medicinal products including the COVID-19 vaccines are strictly prohibited. Therefore, the public should not purchase any COVID-19 vaccines online.”

The FDA also cautioned courier services including shippers and freight forwarders against bringing into Ghana any unauthorized vaccines since such practices will be in contravention of Section 118 of the Public Health Act and FDA’s Guidelines for Emergency Use Authorization of Medical Products (FDA/GEN/GL-EUA/2021/04).

“COVID-19 vaccines are to be expressly imported only by and through the Ministry of Health,” the statement warned.

“The public is therefore advised to report to the FDA any suspicious activity(ies) relating to the advertising and offering for sale and supply of COVID-19 vaccines and/or related products. All reports/complaints shall be treated in confidence.”

For the avoidance of doubt, the FDA in the statement said “so far, the only COVID-19 vaccines authorised for use in Ghana are SPUTNIK V and COVISHIELD vaccines. Furthermore, the importation and deployment of these two vaccines in the country are under the control of only the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service, respectively”.

The government of Ghana received its first batch of Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, under the Global Access (COVAX Facility) on Wednesday, February 24, 2021.

So far, Ghana has received more than 700,000 COVID-19 vaccines for its vaccination programme.