MoH Set for Nationwide Covid -19 Vaccination Campaign
The Gambia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) on Friday 24th, Feb.2023 held a press briefing to inform the media of their upcoming 10-day nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign set to start on the 1st of March 2023. MoH officials says this will be the 9th national Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
According to the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) and Health Promotional Directorate, officials are targeting 70% coverage after their latest campaign with the highest Covid-19 vaccination coverage being 18% since the outbreak took place in The Gambia on 18th March 2020.
Senior Communications Officer under the Directorate of Health Promotion and Education, Gibril Gando Baldeh explained that the vaccination campaign is meant to boost the coverage of the Covid-19 vaccines rollout in the country.
Sinopham, Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer are the vaccines available for this campaign and children at the age of 12yrs can take the vaccine. After a quick clarification response to the press, he emphasized that there has not been any declaration that Covid-19 is over so that’s why people should try to take the vaccines for their own good.
Delivering his welcoming statement, Deputy Director of Health Promotion and Education, Mr Sanjally Trawally urged Journalists to disseminate the message to their wider audience on their respective platforms. He noted that taking the vaccines can help reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19 and therefore it is safe to take.
According to Deputy Director Trawally, since the campaign started the number of hospitalized patients with Covid-19 has reduced drastically proving the effectiveness of the vaccines. He appealed to the media to help in convincing others to take the vaccines for their well-being and to be able to travel outside the country because it’s still a requirement in order to travel to some countries.
EPI Director, Mr Sidat Fofana reassure the public that the vaccination isn’t new in The Gambia but rumours about the Covid-19 vaccines have made their work more challenging. He urged journalists to counter those rumours with clear facts. This he believes will reduce hospitalization and deaths due to Covid-19.
