A National COVID-19 Vaccination and Public Health Funfair was yesterday held in Accra to whip up public interest in the campaign on the vaccination exercise.
The campaign organised by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and Clinton Health Access Initiative, World Vision and the African-German Health Association was to generate interest and increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake amongst the public.
The funfair which was to commemorate a successful three-month national campaign implemented by the Deutsche GesellschaftfürInternationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) also gave the public the opportunity to benefit from a free health screening exercise.
The Component Manager/Co-Lead for GIZ Support to Vaccine Manufacturing Project, Mr Jasper Sablah said as part of the campaign, project partners trained health workers, individuals, and groups, including community leaders on how to address misconceptions surrounding the vaccine uptake and how to openly communicate the risks and benefits of getting vaccinated.
Mr Sablah said over the course of the three months, 1000 vaccinators and health care workers were trained in 150 districts to improve their understanding of the vaccine available, and to address vaccine hesitancy.
Furthermore, he stated that, over 2500 community members and champions were convinced of the need and the effectiveness of the vaccination against COVID-19.
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"This helped to persuade or reassure many people, especially in rural communities. Teams were moving from house to house to educate people, mainly in very remote communities, on the virus and the vaccination against it," he said.
He said "With support of the partners, GHS deployed vaccines to various communities. To make it as convenient as possible, some vaccines were administered directly to citizens in their homes."
The Director of Health Promotion, GHS, DrAboagyeDacosta said during the campaign period, partners worked closely together to increase public awareness on the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19, hence exceeding the national mid-year target of 20 million.
"We have successfully contributed to the national mid-year target of 20 million, bringing the current results to over 21 million vaccinated individuals. This is about six per cent increase of the national target," he added.
