Tamale, Nov 11, GNA – The Northern Regional Health Directorate has appealed to residents in the region to avail themselves to be vaccinated against yellow fever to protect them from the disease.
Dr Hilarius Abiwu, Deputy Director in-charge of Public Health in the Northern Region, who made the appeal, said this would ensure that the yellow fever disease was eliminated from the country.
Dr Abiwu at a media briefing in Tamale on Wednesday to announce the impending yellow fever vaccination exercise to be undertaken throughout the country.
Persons between the ages of 10 and 60 are expected to be vaccinated against the yellow fever disease in the region from tomorrow, November 12, to November 18.
The exercise will take place in 13 out of the 16 districts in the region to capture about 1,069,000 people, who fall within the age range.
Residents of Gushegu, Saboba, and Kpandai districts are exempt from the exercise because they have been covered already under a different exercise.
Dr Abiwu said vaccinators would not visit homes. However, they would be stationed at communities and health centers for residents to avail themselves to be vaccinated.
He said, about 10 per cent of the vaccinators would visit hard-to-reach communities to capture residents to ensure that no one was left behind.
He said “yellow fever, like any other virus, has no immediate cure and the only available cure is immunisation against the virus,” and appealed to qualified residents to fully participate in the exercise.
GNA