The exercise, which begun on February 2 and expected to end on February 6 this year, is targeting all residents in the region who have not been vaccinated against the pandemic.

According to the Directorate, the region has recorded 11 new COVID-19 cases with one death from five districts, bringing total COVID-19 deaths to 61out of 1,730 positive cases recorded as of January 31, 2022.

Speaking at the region’s COVID-19 Vaccination Days Campaign on Tuesday in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Emmanuel Dzotsi, entreated all the residents, particularly pregnant women, to get vaccinated to reduce the spread of the virus.

He indicated that a total of 265,061 doses would be deployed for the five-day exercise through intensified outreaches and mobile teams to ensure the massive vaccination of residents in the region.

“In order to reach out to our targeted persons early enough to build herd immunity, our COVID-19 Vaccination Days Campaign is being used to ramp up our vaccination drive as part of the response strategy which is scheduled to take place from Wednesday, February 2 to Sunday, February 6, 2022, across the region,” he added.

He stated that evidence suggests that it was safe to vaccinate pregnant women, adding that booster doses have also been recommended for a certain category of persons as it helped sustain acquired immunity.

Dr Dzotsi said vaccines were now available and urged everyone to vaccinate against the pandemic, adding that the vaccines would protect pregnant women and unborn babies from severe COVID-19 diseases and associated complications.

He also emphasised that vaccinated persons have a higher survival chance against COVID-19 than unvaccinated persons, thus, the need for all and sundry to endeavour to build immunity against the spread of the virus.

Dr Dzotsi appealed to residents of the region to dispel all conspiracy theories against COVID-19 and get vaccinated as that was the surest way of saving lives.