The Ghana Health Service in the Western Region has introduced a house-to-house vaccination exercise in the evenings as part of many strategies deployed to get 50 percent and more of its eligible population of close to 1.5 million vaccinated by the end of December.
“The Western Regional Health Directorate aims to attain 50% coverage for at least one dose of vaccination by the end of December 2021.
In line with this, the Health Directorate with support from the regional minister and other stakeholders have set up 350 sites throughout the Region for Covid-19 vaccination.
Some of the sites are in locations such as: health facilities, lorry parks, markets, riverine communities, hard-to-reach areas, and educational institutions.
Evening vaccination sessions are also provided in some of the sites.
Vaccines have been dispatched to all districts and health subdistricts to ensure that the vaccines are easily accessible to all eligible persons irrespective of their location,” regional director Dr Yaw Ofori Yeboah announced at a press briefing.
A total of 494, 854 out of an eligible population of 1,423,100 people have been vaccinated in the Western Region.
Only 9.8 percent of this population have been fully vaccinated.
At the last count, 25 percent of the eligible population have received at least a dose of the vaccine with the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Assembly having the highest coverage of 69.2 percent.
The Jomoro District, on the other hand, has the lowest coverage with 12.3 percent.
“The district with the highest proportion of fully immunized people in the Western Region is Tarkwa municipal—with 28.8%, whilst Prestea Huni-Valley District has the lowest proportion with 4.4%”.
Despite the availability of thousands of vaccines of different make, the region still continues to record low numbers.
Dr Yaw Ofori Yeboah revealed that currently the Region has only two mild active cases of the Covid-19 virus.
“After recording 7,551 Covid-19 cases and 73 deaths, the daily cases have declined over the past two months and currently we have only two active cases in the Region. All two cases are coming from Prestea Huni Valley. I must add that they are all mild cases and are being treated home. This is great news, but we are not out of the woods yet. We observed a similar trend during the same period last year but by January 2021, the number of cases soared, and some people unfortunately lost their lives”.
He cautioned that: “The devastating impact of several variants of the Covid-19 virus on lives and livelihoods remains fresh in our minds; from alpha, beta through delta and currently omicron. It is therefore important to uphold adherence to all the Covid-19 safety protocols. Additionally, it is crucial, for all eligible persons to get fully vaccinated against the Covid 19 virus”.
The regional director stressed that the vaccines are safe and encouraged persons who have not been vaccinated to go for their jab.
“Currently, if you look at our numbers, we have vaccinated close to 500 thousand people. We have not heard of any verifiable case of any mishap from those who have either received one dose or have been fully vaccinated. Some received their jab months ago and there has been no complain. This is to tell you that the vaccines are safe. Be that as it may, our doors are still open to receive, investigate and act on any case that will be reported”.
By Eric Yaw Adjei|Connect FM|3news.com|Ghana