The Upper West Regional Branch of the Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) is embarking on an intensive COVID-19 vaccine campaign in the region to sensitize citizens to get vaccinated.
In view of this, the GRCS organized a step-down training on COVID-19 vaccination for its volunteers to help the general public embrace the nationwide Coronavirus vaccination exercise.
The one-day intensive training on Tuesday, November 30, 2021 saw twenty-eight (28) volunteers from across the region participated and trained in Wa, the Upper West Regional capital.
Various resource persons from the GRCS and Ghana Health Service (GHS) took turns to interact with the volunteers on a range of issues about the Coronavirus and the vaccines so developed and on administration across the globe.
Participants were taken through an overview of the COVID-19 vaccination exercise in the country as well as rumor tracking and reporting techniques about the virus and the vaccines, which were fundamental to the training.
The Regional Manager of the GRCS, Mr Jeremiah Afako, said the purpose of the training was to arm volunteers with rightful information about the Coronavirus virus and its vaccines to help educate the general public on the necessity to get immunized against the virus.
He said the pandemic had already wrecked enough havoc in the last few years of its outbreak and that, further damage must be prevented.
Mr Afako said the move formed part of the GRCS's cooperate role about COVID-19 response to support the government's efforts to tackle the pandemic.
He said the training for the volunteers would help augment the efforts of the Ghana Health Service at getting everybody vaccinated against the killer virus.
Emergency Response Officer and COVID-19 Focal Person at National Headquarters of the Ghana Red Cross Society, Madam Felecia Kolekang, said the training was to equip volunteers with necessary information regarding the vaccine and build their capacity so they would be able to undertake the exercise effectively.
She urged the public to embrace the vaccination exercise to keep safe from the virus.
She said everyone should accept to be vaccinated without any fears as the vaccines are tested and proven efficacious.
“The Food and Drugs Authority, which a body incharge of food and drug safety, has approved the vaccines… …they [vaccines] have high efficacy.”
A participant and Nadowli-Kaleo District Organizer of the Ghana Red Cross Society, Mr Eugene Yendaw, said the training was impactful and would help volunteers to educate the generality of Ghanaians to accept the jabs.
He added that the training was good and timely to help more people get vaccinated against COVID-19, especially where people have preconceived misconceptions about the virus and the vaccines.
At the moment, vaccines available for COVID-19 have efficacy of between 60-94%. Ghana happens to be one of the luckiest countries to have had about four different vaccines (AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen) on administration to all citizens.
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