Ebola Vaccine Trial: It Is Mean & Wicked To Give Volunteers GHC200 and Mobile Phone

National Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu has lambasted the Minister of Health for giving approval for the Ebola vaccine trial to be held in the Volta Region.

Making his submissions on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme, John Boadu stated emphatically that the Minister, Alex Segbefia, should be blamed for joining forces with the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to allow the vaccine trial to go on.

FDA on Monday gave approval to international pharmaceutical companies, Johnson & Johnson, Bavarian Nordic, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to begin the trial in the country.

However, the Ministry of Health has called for a suspension of the exercise following public outcry.

Though acknowledging the Minister's directive for the trial to be suspended, John Boadu was of a strong view that the actions by the authorities in charge of the trial is "mean" and "wicked."

He was particularly disappointed that the arrangements for volunteers who come out to try out the vaccine were that they would receive GHC 200 only and a mobile phone.

To him, it is an inhumane act by the authorities to give volunteers GHC 200 when they are expected to receive GHC 10,200.

“How can you be so wicked like this? And I think that the officials involved, the Minister cannot exonerate himself from this matter because from the approvals that we’re talking about, it was given by the Ministry of Health and the Food and Drugs Board. The handling of the matter is the problem.”

John Boadu appealed to the Ministry to insure persons who volunteer for the exercise to commence.