The Deputy Director in Charge of Public Health in Ashanti Region, Dr. Rockson Michael Agyei has averred that the Johnson and Johnson vaccination program may outstretch to Friday, 20th August 2021.
According to him, even though the official close date for the vaccination exercise is today 18 August, it may go beyond today to Friday so long as vaccines are available.
Subsequent to press briefing of the Director General of Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, which he announced that the Johnson and Johnson vaccines will be delivered at 4 districts in Kumasi.
During an interview in Kumasi, Dr. Rockson Agyei revealed that 50,400 doses of Johnson and Johnson were sent to the Ashanti Region to be distributed in these selected districts. He further stated that, these districts are the 4 main Covid-19 hotspots in the region.
As far as covid-19 is concerned, these hotspots are districts that contribute about 60 per cent weekly infections, according to other health officials.
The Deputy Director in Charge of Public Health indicated that, in these 4 covid-19 hotspots, 36 vaccination centers have been set up and natives of these districts were given the opportunity to receive their jabs.
Vaccination patronage is very high
Speaking on the progress of the exercise, Dr. Rockson Agyei stated that, “so far, it’s been very good. Patronage is very high. From the weekend when we started, it was a bit jerky for obvious reasons. Because in the weekends people usually will not have time to come for such an exercise, but from Monday it’s been very active. On the average, 8,000 to 9,000 people are vaccinated every day”.
The Deputy Director in Charge of Public Health communicated that currently, about 30,000 people have been vaccinated. He also indicated that, there are 20,000 doses left which he predicts will dwindle by 50 per cent by the close of day with respect to the rate at which the Johnson and Johnson vaccines are consumed.
Additionally, Dr. Michael Agyei disclosed that Kwadaaso Municipal has ran out of doses. In solving that, he averred that they have mobilized about 300 doses as supplementary vaccines to cater for the people who have come to wait in long queues.
According to the Deputy Director in Charge of Health, the vaccine distribution centers in Kwaadaso Municipal are likely to end today when the 300 supplementary doses finish.
Surveillance team records 3 adverse cases
Dr. Rockson Agyei further announced that, the vaccination centers are limited by the number of vaccines made available to them. As a result, they may not go beyond Friday in the vaccination exercise.
Speaking on the adverse effects, the Deputy Director in Charge of Public Health announced that the surveillance team has recorded only 3 out of 30,000 reaction cases.
“That is not to say, that is all because the surveillance system is a bit passive that it depends on you reporting either through the health care provided or going on the net or using the Medsafe App”.
Dr. Rockson Michael Agyei
He explained that, people may experience fever or headache signifying that the immune system is responding to the vaccine introduced. Dr. Rockson Michael Agyei considered these syptoms as minor and could be treated with painkillers like Paracetamol.
“There were minor complains, constitutional symptoms like headache fever, bodily pains which [are] not unexpected from the vaccine. The adverse events that are complained is similar to what we experience with Covidshield few months ago.”
Dr. Rockson Michael Agyei
The Deputy Director in Charge of Public Health advised the public not to wait for the eleventh hour before they come forward when there is an ongoing health vaccination exercise. He urged that as soon as the public hear about a vaccination campaign, they should quickly go to the health centers to be vaccinated and the reason being that, the vaccination centers may get heated because a lot of people want to catch up the last doses.
Speaking on the challenges, Dr. Rockson Michael Agyei disclosed that they have had an issue of people coming from other districts other than the targeted districts to be vaccinated.
According to him, “when you have more people coming from outside these hotspots, then it tends to dilute the impact you want to have. Because, when you are able to vaccinate the people staying within that hotspot you are likely to bring down the infection”.
Therefore, Dr. Rockson Agyei advised that henceforth, authorities should intensify communication within the local settings to spell out the vaccination eligibility in terms of place or community.
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