COVID-19: Upper East Region achieves herd immunity

Mr Dominic Yeboah, the Upper East Regional Coordinator for the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), says the Region has attained herd immunity against COVID-19.

He said a total of 806,688 representing 91.9 percent of residents had taken at least a dose of the vaccine which gave them some level of immunity out of 877,624 targeted population in the Region.

Mr Yeboah in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga, said “Those who have taken full doses that we can be very sure of their immunity, at the optimum level, are 723,820 representing about 82.5 percent of the population.

“So technically, in Public Health, if you vaccinate above 80 percent, we say you have attained herd immunity; meaning a lot of people are covered and there is the possibility that even if the organism is found in circulation, it would not be able to cause serious disease outbreak,” he said.

The EPI Coordinator said even though a lot of residents had received COVID-19 vaccines in the Region, it was important for them to take booster and additional doses to maintain their immunity levels.

“There is the need to sustain the gains that we have made over the years so that we can all be safe. The fact that COVID-19 is declared not a public health emergency does not mean the virus does not exist,” he said.

Asked if there was any recorded case of the virus in the Region as recorded in Greater Accra, Mr Yeboah said “We have not recorded any case, but then, our population is mobile, people move around, so we cannot tell when anyone can pick the virus. That is why we undertake vaccination exercises from time to time”.

Speaking on the five-day ongoing 10th national COVID-19 vaccination exercise in the Region, which began on May 5, 2024, the EPI Coordinator said despite some challenges including the unwillingness of residents to patronize the vaccines, the exercise had started smoothly across all 15 Municipalities and Districts in the Region.

He said 176 teams were deployed across the 15 Municipalities and Districts to vaccinate a targeted population of 21,000 who required any of the doses, including booster doses.

He disclosed that as of the second day of the vaccination exercise, a total of 2,527, representing 12 percent of the targeted population was vaccinated.

Mr Yeboah said some members of the public who hitherto resisted the vaccines owing to some rumours about the vaccines, eventually dispelled the rumours after they realized the vaccines were good and protected them from the virus.

“Just that it takes us a lot of time for us to engage and get their buy-in so I urge the public that COVID-19 is not completely off the hook. There is the need to continue to vaccinate to keep ourselves protected,” he said.

He said the Region had enough Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to cater for the five-day exercise and indicated that pregnant women and people under 18years were eligible for the vaccine.

“Apart from pregnant women and people under 18 years, any individual above 18years, even if they have other health conditions, they can still take the vaccine,” the EPI Coordinator said.

He said even though some intense COVID-19 protocols were relaxed, the use of nose masks and adherence to hand washing protocols should be part of residents to check Respiratory Tract Infections (RTI) and other disease conditions.

“If for nothing at all, hand washing, use of nose masks and hand sanitizers should not necessarily be used because of COVID. The protocols are there to prevent other conditions as well and advisable we heed to it so that we can get protected from other diseases,” Mr Yeboah said.

GNA