Dr. John Ekow Otoo, the Deputy Director of Public Health and Incident Manager for COVID-19 at the Eastern Regional Ghana Health Service, has disclosed that 904,696 individuals were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Eastern Region.
The figure represents 46.2 per cent of a target of 1.9 million individuals who are 15 years and above in the region.
Dr. Otoo revealed to the Ghana News Agency in an interview to ascertain the current COVID-19 vaccination status and COVID-19 recorded cases in the region as of May 26, 2024, and June 9, 2024, respectively.
He mentioned that 1,227,526 persons representing 62.6 percent of the targeted population had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Those fully vaccinated, 420,770 had received the booster dose to give them extra protection to the already-taken vaccine against COVID-19.
Dr. Otoo noted that Eastern Regional Health Directorate received 1,704,400 AstraZeneca, 1,065,150 Pfizer-BioTech, 807,900 COVID-19 Vaccine Jassen and 122,640 Mordena COVID-19 Vaccine and distributed to health centres.
He said that 2,238,459 doses of the four vaccines had been administered, however, 171 individuals experienced Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) with 165 severe cases and 6 mild cases.
An AEFI is an unintended medical reaction caused by vaccination for immunization which could be mild or severe.
Of the 171 recorded cases of AEFI, 56 per cent were females and 44 per cent were males with complaints of headaches, abscesses, severe local reactions, fevers above 38 degree celsius, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Others included painful ribs, nausea, loss of appetite, malaise, anaphylaxis, general body pains and muscle pains as of March 31, 2024.
Dr. Otoo said as of June 9, 2024, the region had recorded 65 COVID-19 cases with three active cases in the New Juaben South Municipality.
He said health practitioners were doing their best to vaccinate the targeted population, however, challenges such as misinformation and myths surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines made it difficult to meet the target.
He encouraged citizens who were yet to receive the doses to do so to protect themselves from easily contracting COVID-19 as it was still in the system.
Immunization is among the important public health interventions for preventing and reducing morbidity and mortality in all societies and countries.
