GHS embarks on 5- Day COVID-19 vaccination with Johnson and Johnson vaccines

The Eastern Regional Health Directorate has commenced a 5-day COVID-19 vaccination exercise across the region today Wednesday 19th of July 2023 to Sunday 23rd July 2023 as part of the 7th Round of the National Covid-19 Vaccination Days Campaign.

The objective is to increase coverage of vaccinated population to ensure the country achieves head immunity against the virus.

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 had administered a total of 2,050,392 Covid-19 vaccine doses .

Additionally, number of persons who have received 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,there a lot of people who are not fully covered against the Covid-19 disease and therefore need to increase vaccination.

Dr.Winfred Ofosu stressed that the vaccines are safe and protects individuals from severe complications of Covid-19 disease and deaths, although there are few temporal adverse drug effects .

The region recorded over 7000 COVID-19 cases with about 150 deaths representing 2%.

He said the health directorate is monitoring persons experiencing long-term effects from their infection, known as Long COVID or Post-COVID Conditions (PCC) to ensure they are well.

As at July 18,2023 , Eastern region has no active case of COVID-19.