Dr. Kuma-Aboagye
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has recorded about 57% COVID-19 vaccination coverage says Director-General of Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye however noted that the service is targeting 20.7 million fully vaccinated people by the end of its latest COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
He also disclosed that about 71% of the population is not fully vaccinated because they only vaccinated once without going for the second dose.
“We have had about 40.1% of our target set for the week and that is quite encouraging, we still have a large population to cover, that is why we are spending the week going around to make sure those who are not vaccinated and fully vaccinated gets COVID vaccination done and we believe that if all goes well,we are going to exceed our target and that will help us achieve the number we are looking to,” he emphasized.
He stressed that there must be more access to outreach points or centers to reach more communities because some communities are very densy populated,so one center may not be enough to reach them.
He also said most parents are not educated on how best to know the well-being of the children and the food best for the children to eat, he thus advised parents to take the child vaccination seriously to immunize their system foe them not to be infected with other diseases.
Mr Kuma-Aboagye further explains that their reason for touring around Ga East Municipal Area is that it creates an opportunity to see the various settings to offer their care, support and also be able to share their experiences due to the mix community of the area including a slum, urban areas and residential areas that are of class and because of how best the district is doing to reach the public on getting vaccinated .
This he said was during an official tour of the Ga East Municipal to observe an ongoing COVID-19 vaccination and child promotion and Africa vaccination week week currently ongoing across the continent to educate and get the public vaccinated to better their immunization systems.
Surveillance Officer of World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Micheal Agyabeng, said as partners together with UNICEF and other organizations have been working together with the government to ensure that COVID vaccination,child welfare services are being rendered to the public to ensure that Ghana is protected.
“We don’t have COVID disease over entirely, there’s no transmission and people are not vaccinated, and these viruses can rotate and cause severe disease, so we will continue to use this opportunity to advocate for people to receive the vaccine,” Mr Agyabeng disclosed.
He further explains that Astra Zeneca decision to pull out was not related to factors of red blood clot but per information, it states that,it was due to commercial reasons and the unavailability of alternatives, therefore making it economically not viable.
He further assured that together with the Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) will make sure that the best vaccine will be out there to reach out to the public to get vaccinated.
By Janet Odei Amponsah