Two regions - Volta and Bono - kicked off their vaccination against COVID-19 Thursday.

The exercise started with health workers at the frontline in the fight against the pandemic.

Volta Region

In the Volta Region, about 14,450 health workers will receive the vaccines, reports Graphic Online's Mary Anane-Amponsah.

The exercise is expected to cover staff in the 18 districts of the region.

When the Daily Graphic visited the Ho Municipal Hospital and the Ho Teaching Hospital at 9 a.m. yesterday, some of the health workers, including the Deputy Director of Public Health, Dr Senanu Kwesi Dzokoto, were receiving their jabs.

In an interview, the health workers said they were happy the vaccines were now in the region to protect the populace against the virus.

The Ho Municipal Director of Health Services, Ms Victoria Kpelly, said the vaccination would be open to the public after the health workers had gone through.

Dr Dzokoto said the ongoing exercise would boost the confidence of the population ahead of a mass vaccination.

A statement from the Regional Health Directorate said: "The Regional and District Public Health Emergency Management Committees were working with all stakeholders to ensure a successful vaccination exercise."

Bono Region

Graphic Online's Biiya Mukusah Ali writes that the Deputy Bono Regional Director in charge of Public Health, Dr John Ekow Otoo, has advised the public to report COVID-19 vaccine side effects or symptoms to health facilities if the symptoms persist for more than 24 hours after taking the jab to avoid complications.

“Like any vaccine, when you take the jab, you may have some reactions such as headache, pain and swelling at the site of injection and vomiting”, he stated, explaining that those could happen and should be expected from the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr Otoo told the media during the start of the vaccination in the Bono Region that the directorate had put in place an elaborate system to record and follow those with the symptoms.

He gave the assurance that the regional directorate had put in place a system to manage the side effects if it persisted for more than a day.

He said the region had received 7,500 dozes as the first consignment for both public and private health workers, including students and staff of health training institutions in the region.

He explained that more than 8,000 health workers were expected to take the jab, and expressed the hope that the available vaccines would cover over 80 per cent population of health workers.

The Regional Health Director, Dr Kofi Amo-Kodieh, said in less than three months, the region had recorded a total of 1,310 cases of COVID-19, with 33 deaths as compared to 643 cases with only one death in 2020.