Some one thousand, six hundred and seventy-nine reports of adverse side effects of the Covishield vaccines have been recorded in Ghana after some four hundred and ninety thousand doses were administered.

This was disclosed by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) on Tuesday.

According to the Authority, the most commonly reported adverse events were headache, fever, weakness, body pains, chills, and pains at injection point, malaise and dizziness.

The FDA noted that the joint COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Review (JCVSR) Committee, at its 3rd meeting held on 26th March, discussed these reported adverse events in addition to an in-depth review of nine suspected serious adverse events following assessment of the causality.

The FDA said the JCVSR concluded that eight of the serious events, were unrelated to the vaccine but one (a case of fever) was considered as vaccine product-related.

The Committee, according to the FDA, endorsed the Authority’s continuous education and awareness creation programmes targeted at the healthcare professionals and the public to encourage reporting of all suspected adverse events after COVID-19 vaccine administration.

The drugs Authority said it will continue to promote reporting of adverse events and continuously review all safety data received in Ghana and from all over the world and will update the general public of any changes in the benefit-risk profile of the Covished Vaccine