Vaccine shortage caused no deaths in Upper East Region

Bolgatanga-Ghana, March 14, GNA – Dr Josephat Ana-Imwine Nyuzaghl, the Upper East Deputy Regional Director of Public Health, says no deaths or debilitating health issues have been recorded due to the shortage of vaccines for childhood immunisation.
Speaking in an interview with the GNA in Bolgatanga, he said the Region recently received some quantities of vaccines and distributed them among the 15 Municipalities and Districts.
“With the good healthcare initiatives by the Health Directorate, babies up to 18 months old would receive the needed vaccines without challenges,” he added.
Mr Martin Asibit Ayadago, a Public Health Nurse in-charge of the Reproductive Child Health Unit of the Bolgatanga Sub-Municipal Health Centre, said the Centre had received all the vaccines.
“We earlier run short of vaccines for measles, Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG), polio, rotavirus, and Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis (CSM).
He called on nursing mothers to bring their babies for immunisation, assuring the public that there were currently enough vaccines.
Some nursing mothers at the Reproductive and Child Health Unit of the Upper East Regional Hospital in Bolgatanga expressed delight about the vaccine supply in the country.
They said they were hopeful that there would not be any vaccine shortages going forward and appealed to stakeholders to ensure the constant supply of these essential health medicines to save their babies from the six childhood killer diseases.
Madam Portia Yakubu, a nursing mother at the Reproductive and Child Health Unit of the Hospital, told the GNA that she was worried about the vaccine shortage and feared her baby might be infected with measles, but she received assurances from the nurses of the safety of her child.
Madam Amponsah Frimpong, a Physician Assistant, at the Coronation Health Centre in the Bolgatanga Municipality, also confirmed the receipt of some vaccines, adding nursing mothers were coming in with their babies to receive their doses.