A total of 380,000 children in all 18 districts of the Volta region are expected to be administered polio vaccines in a sub-national mass campaign starting Thursday, September 10 to Sunday, September 13.
The second round exercise will take place between Thursday, October 8, and Sunday, October 11.
The exercise is in line with the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Services’ resolution to ensure that the country is free from the deadly virus. The exercise is also expected to cover 4.5m children in 179 districts across the country.
Addressing the press in Ho on Sunday, the Volta Regional Deputy Director of Health, Dr. Senanu Djokoto noted that it is imperative to get every single child immunized in order to protect them from the dangers of the poliovirus.
He said, “Let us note that, it is a must for every child to take the vaccines whether he or she has received vaccination during routine immunization. The additional doses are not harmful, it is rather beneficial to the entire population.”
He explained further that, though the Volta region has not recorded any case since the recent outbreak in the country, it is extremely important that children in the region are vaccinated; while stressing that every child is at risk is a single child is not immunized.
Dr. Djokoto also called on the media and parents to collaborate with the vaccination team to ensure a successful campaign, saying that the fight remains a shared responsibility.
“Let us all be part of the advocacy initiative to keep all our children, safe, sound, strong and free from polio; we can realize this objective, only if all the children from 0-5years are vaccinated. Like has been mentioned, all the 18 districts are well poised and positioned to work closely with all the stakeholders to ensure that we have a successful campaign and we solicit your support and the support of everybody to make this campaign successful,” he said.
He also lauded the efforts of all stakeholders including the media in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Ghana was declared polio-free in 2015, after a long seven years without any cases of the wild virus since 2008. But recent cases (31) recorded in some parts of the country since July 2019, meant that the fight is not yet over with 11 out of the 16 regions of the country recording at least a case.
Other regions earmarked for the campaign include the Central region, Ashanti region, Eastern region, Greater Accra, Western region, Western North, and the Upper West region.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh/103.5fm/Faisel Abdul-Iddrisu
