By Mildred Siabi-Mensah, GNA
Sekondi, May 6, GNA – The Acting Western Regional Deputy Director of Health Services, Mr Nicholas Asare Adomako, has entreated families, particularly those in the peri-urban settings, to support various immunization efforts by the service to give maximum protection to children under five.
He said while immunization exercises had gained much acceptance in rural communities, peri-urban areas had become a bit of a challenge.
“Now we are having pockets of outbreak because families are not strictly adhering to immunization procedures”, Mr. Asare Adomako, also the Public Health and Coordinator for the Expanded Programme on Immunization, told Journalists on the GHS Risks Communication at a briefing of various interventions being undertaken so far.
Touching on the Africa Vaccination Week, Mr. Asare Adomako said the theme for this year’s celebration was “Healthy Childhood, Invest in Your Child for Healthy Future.”
He called on parents to readily avail their children under five to be vaccinated to protect them against diseases.
The Service would undertake routine immunization for children under five and continue with vaccination on COVID-19, the Africa Vaccination Week exercise as well as Child Health Promotion activities.
Mr. Asare Adomako called on Ghanaians to continue to observe the necessary COVID-19 safety protocols as the country had recorded 31 new cases with one case in the Western Region.
According to him, the tenth round of COVID -19 campaign and vaccination had started.
Mr. Asare Adomako noted that, persons who were fully vaccinated in the region were 705,763 which represented 50.7% while, those who had received just one dose were 935,812 accounting for 67.2% and persons who had received the booster were 295,813 representing 41.9%.
He added that people who had not received any of the jabs were 690,633, representing 42.5%.
He said the GHS was targeting about 33,504 people for this round of vaccination in the region.
Mr. Asare Adomako charged individuals to take advantage of the mass vaccination exercise to get their jabs to stay protected, adding that by doing so the region could attain its herd immunity of 80 percent.
He also advised Ghanaians to report any medical situation they noticed to the health facility after taking the vaccine.
GNA