The 4th round of the intensified vaccination campaign against Covid-19 has been launched in the North West Region to run from March 16th – 20th. Launching the exercise, the Governor’s representative Viang Mekala, Secretary General at the North West Governor’s Office, reminded all present that the fight against COVID19 is a collective one. He further enjoined Mayors of all council areas in the region, traditional, religious authorities to join forces with health authorities to contain the spread of the virus.
At the launching ceremony the Regional Delegate for Public Health Dr. Kingsley Che Soh said “As far as the epistemological situation is concerned, the good news is that we are recovering from the 4th wave of the pandemic, a wave which reached its peak during the first and second week of this year. Last week, we recorded just 3 cases and we didn’t record a case of death. The 3 cases were recorded in Bamenda, Kumbo East and Ndu health districts. That’s just to say that the situation is improving. That notwithstanding, it is very important to get the population vaccinated because it’s going to stop the transmission of the disease, hence prevent people from developing the severe forms of the disease. We will be running this campaign with a lot of strategies. Vaccination will go on in all vaccination centres across the 20 health districts. We will be going down to offices to vaccinate personnel working there, to churches, market places and palaces. We will seize all the opportunities we have to meet our target. Our target for the campaign stands at 16000 persons that we have to vaccinate. The target population of the region stands at 943000 but so far we have vaccinated about 73000, giving a vaccination coverage of about 7.8%.”
Dr. Che Soh further stated that since the 1st case was diagnosed on the 20th of April 2020, the region has witnessed about 13,085 confirmed cases. Of that number, 12,590 recovered, giving a score of 96% of patients who recovered. Unfortunately the region has so far lost 459 patients to #COVID-19, giving a mortality rate of 3.7%. As of today, we have 1patient at the treatment centre while 5 are on home confinement. The Ministry has realized that mass campaigns,though costly, are the most effective ways to get people vaccinated. 32000 of the total number of people vaccinated in the region received their doses during the last campaign, Dr. Che Soh stressed.
It is important to note that this campaign will target any one aged 18 and above with interest in persons 50 years and above , health personnel and people with underlying health conditions (diabetes, hypertension etc.) Johnson and Johnson ( single dose protocol), Sinopharm , Pfizer (double dose protocol) will be available during this campaign. For persons who have already completed their vacination schedule , booster doses will be administered to them as some already received during the launch.
During this campaign the population will be sensitized on the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination through the media, in health facilities and within the communities.
It is important for the population to adhere to the vaccination against COVID-19 to help control the pandemic and reduce the burden of COVID-19 on the health and economy of Cameroon.
