Dafiama-Bussie-Issa MP seeks COVID-19 vaccination for constituents

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Dafiama-Bussie-Issa, Dr Sebastien Sandaare, has appealed to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to consider his constituency in the next phase of COVID-19 vaccination, to stop the spread of the disease.

His appeal followed the death of two people of the six confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Daffiama, in the Dafiama-Bussie-Issa District of the Upper West Region.

Addressing journalists in Parliament, in Accra, on Friday, Dr Sandaare urged the GHS to take advantage of the arrival of the recent consignment of COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate people in the community against the disease before the situation got out of hand.

“The first vaccination was limited to health workers. People who are at risk or with pre-existing conditions, the elderly, did not receive the vaccines.

“That is a problem and I am worried now because if the situation as we see escalates, it means that all those people are at very high risk,” Dr Sandaare said.

He bemoaned the lack of compliance of the people to the COVID-19 protocol, which remained the surest way of containing the spread, in the absence of vaccines.

“I will urge my people to comply with the COVID-19 protocol because nobody is immune from this disease. Compliance is the only way we can contain the spread of this disease,” Dr Sandaare cautioned.

He commended the health authorities in the area for doing their best to contain the disease in the face of difficulties.

The Dafiama-Bussie-Issa District, a farming community, has a population of about 15,000 and does not have a district hospital and relied on the Nadowli District Hospital for health care.

Ghana is aiming to vaccinate 20 million people against the disease by the end of 2021 to attain herd-immunity and so far, 405,971 have received the double doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine with 865,422 awaiting their second jab.

Some 177,600 persons have also received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine under the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Trust initiative in COVID-19 hotpots in the Greater Accra and the Ashanti regions.

Over the weekend, the country took delivery of 1,229,620 Moderna vaccines, and 1.5 million AstraZeneca vaccines are expected in the country following President Akufo-Addo’s official visit to Germany last week, as well as more John & Johnson vaccines are expected in the country.

BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI

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