Accra-Ghana, Dec. 06, GNA – The German Cooperation (GIZ) has held a public health screening funfair to officially mark the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign closeout.
The joint campaign, in collaboration with the African German Health Association and the Ghana Health Service. was to generate interest and increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake amongst the public.
It also sought to dispel the misconceptions about the COVID-19 vaccines to reduce vaccine hesitancy.
The funfair was marked by health screening, counselling sessions, drama performances, among others.
According to the World Health Organisation, vaccines remain the most important tool for countries to overcome the pandemic and to get on the path to recovery, towards socio-economic development.
Ms Ariane von Maercker, Co-lead Support to the Local Vaccine Production and Responsible for the German’s Last Mile Initiative, said despite the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine, there were still widespread misconceptions on the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination, hence the campaign.
She said the national campaign as part of the German Last Mile Initiative sought to rapidly increase global COVID-19 vaccine coverage and uptake.
Ms Maercker noted that Germany provided 224 million EUR for bilateral projects worldwide and direct support vaccination campaigns and overall, more than 1.3 billion EUR was made available in 2022, to help end the pandemic.
She stated that as part of the closeout ceremony, GIZ Ghana donated several laptops, desktops, tablets, printers, and cameras to the Ghana Health Service.
“The equipment is intended to strengthen the use of digital health information system, help to detect people infected with COVID-19, to ensure that they receive the best treatment and to follow-up with their contact persons.” Ms Maercker said.
Dr Aboagye Dacosta, the Director of Health Promotion, Ghana Health Service, said from July to September 2022, partners of the campaign have worked closely to increase public awareness on the importance of COVID-19 vaccination.
Ghana over the three-month campaign period, has exceeded the national target of vaccinating 20 million people to 21 million as of November 2022.
“As of November 25, a total of 21, 163,810 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered and at least 12,155,754 tonnes, representing 38 per cent of the population have received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine,” he added.
