Accra, Sept 1, GNA – Volunteers of the ongoing polio vaccination exercise for novel Oral Polio Virus Type 2 (nOPV2) have called for more awareness creation, saying, parents are not allowing their children to be vaccinated.
Ms Charlotte Wood-Tandoh, a Volunteer, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that some parents said their children were already given polio vaccines during postnatal and unwilling to allow them to be given the new vaccine.
“No matter how I tried to explain to parents that this is a new type of vaccine and that it is even safe for the child to get double doses, they turned me away and asked that I come back next time,” she lamented.
Ms Wood-Tandoh, however, said despite the challenge, the exercise was progressing smoothly and hopeful the response would improve when more awareness was created.
Nii Kpakpa Kotey, a Community Volunteer, said awareness was low, but he was able to vaccinate 35 children when the GNA visited at 1000 hours.
“…The only problem is that some people are not aware of the ongoing exercise, so we need more sensitisation,” he said.
The GNA observed that information vans were going round communities to inform the public about the ongoing vaccination exercise.
At the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital vaccination joints were set up at some wards to vaccinate new borns.
The first round of the novel Oral Polio Virus Type 2 (nOPV2) mass vaccination, which began today September 1, 2022, is expected to end on Sunday September 4th, following the recording of new cases of polio paralysis in children in the Northern part of the country.
The nOPV2 is being used as a new tool to help stop local transmission of Poliovirus type 2, maintain a high population immunity, strengthen surveillance on Polio disease, and prevent further Polio outbreaks.
Source: Ghana News Agency
