The Ghana Health Service (GHS) initiated a five-day vaccination campaign on Tuesday aimed at boosting the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines throughout the country.
The campaign, spanning from Wednesday, July 19 to Sunday, July 23, 2023, aims to ensure that Ghana achieves the required vaccination target to safeguard the well-being of its citizens.
Additionally, the objective is to incorporate this vaccination effort into the country’s routine immunization program.
During the launch of the 7th National COVID-19 vaccination campaign, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director General of the GHS, highlighted the importance of vaccinating the population despite the World Health Organization’s declaration that the pandemic no longer posed a public emergency concern.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye emphasized that the disease still prevails, emphasizing the need to administer vaccines to protect the population.
“This declaration does not mean that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, what it means is that under the International Health Regulations, the management of the pandemic is taking a different approach, integrating COVID-19 into existing health delivery mechanisms,” he said.
“The WHO, therefore, recommends that countries maintain efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccination coverage for all persons to maintain the gains made in our fight against the disease,” he added.
Dr. Kuma-Aboagye acknowledged the positive outcomes of the national vaccination campaign that commenced on March 1, 2021. However, he emphasized the importance of further efforts to increase the number of vaccinated individuals in order to attain herd immunity.
Expressing concern, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye highlighted that nearly 70 percent of the Ghanaian population remained unvaccinated. He emphasized that until every Ghanaian received the COVID-19 vaccine, the entire population would still be at risk. This warning underscores the imperative of ensuring widespread vaccination coverage to safeguard the health and well-being of all citizens.
“As of yesterday, nearly 26 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had reached almost 14 million persons, out of which 10 million persons are fully vaccinated,” he said, noting that though the figure represented about 59 per cent of the target, “the county was still far from achieving its national target.”
“This means the whole population still stands a risk of a likely event of new variants as COVID-19 remains extremely unpredictable.”
Professor Francis Kasolo, the WHO Country Director, highlighted the uncertain trajectory of the pandemic and the ongoing transmission of the Omicron variant, posing a risk to vulnerable populations such as the elderly, individuals with underlying medical conditions, healthcare workers, and pregnant women.
He stressed the importance of prioritizing population immunity through vaccination, particularly among high-priority groups as recommended by the strategic advisory Group of Experts.
Dr. Kwame Amposa-Achiano, a public health physician, emphasized the unpredictable nature of the virus and the necessity of continuous campaigns and effective communication to emphasize the importance of vaccination.
He disclosed that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be available for the campaign, and individuals aged 18 and above were eligible to receive the vaccine. Each vaccination team member was expected to administer a minimum of 40 doses during the campaign.
Dr. Amposa-Achiano underscored the need for the vaccination campaign to be accompanied by the continuation of COVID-19 safety protocols. He called upon stakeholders, partners, traditional leaders, and the media to support and contribute to the success of the campaign.
Approximately 76 percent of the target population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 59 percent having completed the primary vaccination series. The objective of the seventh vaccination campaign is to administer one million doses within a span of five days.
Nearly 53,000 health workers and volunteers have been deployed nationwide for the campaign, comprising 5,000 vaccination teams and over 1,000 supervisors operating at the national, regional, and district levels.