The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has undertaken another round of covid-19 vaccination campaigns in the Ashanti Region to ensure the targeted population is fully vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
The campaign, which starts from 20th – 24th January 2023 was aimed at getting people to take the two required doses and a booster to be fully immunized against covid-19 infections and their complications.
The Ashanti Regional Health Directorate is conducting this round of campaign to boost target and it involves vaccination teams reaching people at homes, schools both Junior and Senior High schools, churches, mosques and market places as vaccination vantage points to reach out to people to either receive a first, second or a booster jab to achieve the much desired herd immunity target.
As at last year December 2022, a total of 3,908,864 doses of the assorted vaccines had been administered in the Ashanti Region, 1,605,775 are fully vaccinated representing 49.8 percent (49.8%), 71.4 percent people have received at least one dose out of the estimated people targeted to be vaccinated in the Region.
In a sideline interview on Silver FM after a press briefing, the Ashanti Regional Health Director of the Ghana Health Service Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang, under the campaign on COVID -19 response, said covid-19 vaccination was very relevant now to strongly withstand any resurgence of the disease.
“The best strategy to control any resurgence of this disease is to ensure that people are fully vaccinated to achieve a herd immunity and that is the main objective for this week-long campaign.”
He said despite the progress made, in the covid-19 vaccination, the target of reaching herd immunity had not been achieved, therefore, the need to intensify strategies to get people to vaccinate fully.
At least, about 165,00 of the targeted population including children from 15 years and pregnant women are to be immunized within this period. We need to get everybody who is eligible to be fully vaccinated to achieve herd immunity and that we are not there yet” he said.
Dr Tenkorang explained that vaccination was a process of introducing the drug into the body and immunization is when the required doses or jabs have been fully received and urged the public to go for the jabs.
To be fully vaccinated, people in the eligibility bracket need two jabs of the assorted vaccines such as AstraZeneca and Sputnik V, Modena, and Pfizer and a booster of a third shot while those who took the Johnson and Johnson, one shot vaccine is required to take as a booster from any of the vaccines.
Dr Emmanuel Tenkorang then urged everybody to continue observing the COVID-19 protocols to reduce the spread of the virus.
