The Eastern Regional Health Directorate has announced it will begin a 5-day COVID-19 vaccination exercise across the region beginning Wednesday 19th of July 2023 to Sunday 23rd July 2023 for the 7th Round of the National Covid-19 Vaccination Days Campaign.
The primary objective of the campaign is to give everybody who qualifies to take the vaccine but has not been vaccinated the opportunity to be vaccinated.
Addressing the media in Koforidua ,the Regional Health Director Dr.Winfred Ofosu said , health workers and volunteers would be at strategic points in various communities including the various health directorate offices, hospitals, health centres, clinics, CHPS compounds, schools,marketplaces, places of worship such as churches and mosques and places where people mostly convene.
He also said there may be teams who may also be moving from home to home and workplaces to workplaces. The teams would be deploying Johnson and Johnson vaccines and all persons 18 years and above are eligible to take them.
“You just need a dose, and you are covered. You will only need
a booster dose some 3months later. You are encouraged to visit a designated vaccination post with a valid identification card and get yourself vaccinated”
Dr.Winfred said high population immunity against the pathogen can be guaranteed by a coordinated vaccination program.
“The vaccination exercises would help prevent severe illness, hospitalization,
and death, and ultimately contribute to the overall reduction in transmission rates”.
He mentioned that ,with support from the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service -Headquarters, and partners such as Jhpiego RISE, the Eastern Regional Health Directorate, a total Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the region is 2,050,392
Number of persons receiving at least a dose of Covid-19 vaccine are 1,172,787
(66.3%) while number of persons who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19
849,083 (48.0%)
Number of persons receiving a booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine is 339,590
(40.0%).
These figures ,he said clearly show that as a region, “we still have a lot of people who are not fully covered for the Covid-19 disease and therefore we need to increase our efforts to give them the opportunity to be vaccinated and protected from the disease. Remember that personal protection is equal to
community protection”.
He said , it is normal to have some reactions after being vaccinated adding that , this reactions are normally short lived and will not last more than 24hours and they disappear. We encourage
anybody who experiences symptoms more than 24hours after vaccination to report to the nearest health facility for attention.
He stressed that the vaccines are safe and protects you from severe Covid-19
diseases and deaths due to COVID-19.
As at July 18,2023 , Eastern region has no active case of COVID-19.
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com/Obed Ansah
