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The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has launched a national campaign to administer COVID-19 vaccines to eligible persons who have not yet been vaccinated.
The national COVID-19 vaccination days (NaCVaDs) campaign which is the seventh in a series, begins today, July 19, 2023, to Sunday, July 23, 2023, and will target at least seven million people aged 18 years and above.
The Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, who did the launch in Accra yesterday, said the country was seeking to increase uptake to achieve herd immunity to protect citizens against any future national and global spikes.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye said some people had misinterpreted the World Health Organisation’s declaration that COVID-19 was no longer a global health emergency, and the lifting of COVID-19 occasioned restrictions to mean that the virus was over and, therefore, were reluctant to take the vaccines.
He said the declaration, however, meant a shift from emergency response to a more sustainable management programme necessary to address the ongoing challenge.
The D-G mentioned the sustainable management programme to include the integration of COVID-19 vaccination into routine systems to ensure the continuous availability of vaccines, especially for high-risk groups who may require additional booster doses every 6-12 months.
He said WHO still recommended that vaccination should be maintained since the virus was still active and its trajectory unknown, coupled with the possibility of it mutating into a more devastating strain.
“This is why it is critical for all countries to protect its population through herd immunity.
About four million people are yet to take their first jab while about 3 million people are yet to be fully vaccinated.
“Please let us remember that no one is safe until we are all safe.
This is why we are launching the 7th National COVID-19 vaccination days to boost uptake,” Dr Kuma-Aboagye, added.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Country Representative of the WHO, Dr Francis Kasolo, reiterated that vaccination towards herd immunity was critical because the future trajectory of the pandemic remained unknown.
“The continuous transmission of the OMICRON variant poses a risk to key populations including the elderly, persons with underlying medical conditions, healthcare workers, and pregnant women.
And so a minor decrease in vaccine effectiveness over time can translate into a rise in cases of severe disease and deaths.
“Again, the possibility of mutation of the circulating variant into a more virulent strain cannot be underestimated.
These factors re-emphasise the need to maintain population immunity through vaccination,” he added.
The Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation EPI, Dr Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, said so far, 25,803,999 doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered to about 14 million people as of July 18, 2023.
Out of the number, he said 13,920,869, representing 76.3 per cent of herd immunity target of 18.2 million had received at least one dose, representing 43.9 per cent of the country’s total population.
Out of the vaccinated population, 10,836,466, which represented 59.4 per cent of 18.2 million target and 34.1 per cent of the country’s total population, are fully vaccinated, while 4,926,113 have also received booster doses.
Dr Amponsa-Achiano further said that some 2,548,708 had tested for the virus with a total of 171,767 recovery, while 1,462 people had succumbed to the disease since March 2020 to date.
The Greater Accra Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Charity Sarpong, advised citizens to continue to observe the safety protocols and also vaccinate to ensure their safety.
“Until the last eligible person has been vaccinated, we cannot say that we’re safe”, she said.
