Polio vaccination under way in Tema West

Children under five years in all communities in the Tema West Municipality are being vaccinated against the poliomyelitis virus.

The immunisation exercise, being conducted by the Ghana Health Service in eight regions and 179 districts across the country, is expected to boost the immunity of children zero to 59 months and provide further protection against the virus.

In all, some 28, 277 children under five years in all communities in the Municipality are being targeted for immunisation which is expected to end on Sunday.

Unlike previous immunisation exercises, where schools were mostly target, this particular exercise is being conducted door-to-door since schools are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Isaac Abrefa Busia, Tema West Municipal Public Health Officer, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the vaccines were safe and effective for children, and called on caregivers to ensure that children under five years were immunised.

He said with a 103.8 per cent coverage in the last immunisation exercise, he hoped the current exercise would witness a high coverage in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic and fear that caregivers were likely to refuse vaccination for fear contracting the virus.

He said parents and caregivers were being sensitised as part of the campaign to ensure maximum coverage.

He explained that “the more your child receives vaccines, the more protected the child is against vaccine preventable diseases including paralysis and sometimes death.”

Mr Abrefa Busia, therefore, entreated caregivers to allow health personnel to administer the vaccines irrespective of the number of times the child may have been vaccinated.