One-Thousand, Five-Hundred and Sixty-Six (1,566) people have been vaccinated with the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of the third quarter of 2021 in the Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipal Assembly (EKMA) in the Western Region.
Meanwhile, a total of Thirteen-Thousand, Eight-Hundred and Fifty-One (13,851) people out of the estimated eligible population of One-Hundred and Seventy-Thousand, Four-Hundred and Eighty (170,480) had been vaccinated with the first dose.
Mrs Joyce Bagina Sutherland, Municipal Health Director for EKMA who confirmed this in an interview with Spice News said vaccination of health workers and the general population was ongoing in the various communities in the Municipality for both first and second doses.
However, she mentioned reluctance on the part of some residents to go for the vaccine, myths and negative perceptions about the vaccine on social media and high preference for the Johnson & Johnson single dose as some challenges facing the vaccination exercise.
She announced that the Johnson & Johnson single dose was currently not available and therefore called on the members in the Municipality who took the first dose and were due for the second dose to go for the second dose to get full protection while those who did not get the opportunity for the first dose to go for it to get protected.
Mrs Sutherland mentioned that the vaccination exercise was going on at the various health facilities such as the Kwesimintsim Government Hospital, Jemima Hospital, Astoria Health Center and other designated places within the Municipality.
She also implored Assembly members for the various Electoral Areas to mobilize their respective community members and liaise with the Municipal Health Directorate to ensure that people above eighteen (18) years, excluding pregnant women, were vaccinated since it was the only way to drive away the disease from the Municipality and the nation at large.
Giving a quarterly report on the pandemic in the Assembly, she said the third quarter of 2021 the Assembly recorded a total of 110 confirmed COVID-19 cases of which one of the patients who was critically ill was referred to the Treatment Center in Effia-Nkwanta Regional hospital where she, unfortunately, lost her life.
Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 positive cases since the beginning of the pandemic in the Municipality as at the end of September 2021, stood at 680, with 663 recoveries/discharges, four deaths and 13 active cases.
Mrs Sutherland also hinted that the Municipal Health Directorate took delivery of 112,650 Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs) for distribution to households who registered for the bed nets during the registration exercise which took place from Monday, 25th to Sunday, 31st October 2021 at vantage sites in the various communities.
Story: Seth A Danquah
