UHAS VC urges health workers to be ambassadors for coronavirus fight

A board member of the Ho Teaching hospital and the Vice-Chancellor for the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Prof. John Owusu Gyapong, has urged health workers in the Volta region to assume ambassadorial roles in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

To be ambassadors, Prof. Gyapong, said health workers in the region must ensure absolute compliance with all the Covid-19 protocols and also get themselves vaccinated to allay the fears of the public and give them confidence.

Speaking at an end-of-year Carols and Nine lessons event organised by the Ho Teaching hospital, Prof. Gyapong noted that the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the Volta region has negatively been impacted by vaccine hesitancy, noting further that the situation is dire even among health workers.

He said, “I would want to reiterate the need for us all, as health workers to be ambassadors for the prevention of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. We know of the protocols; washing of hands, social distancing, the use of sanitizers, and the added benefits of vaccination. There is a lot of propaganda around the vaccination and the data from the Ghana Health Service suggests that our region, the Volta region has had the lowest uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine.”

“And also, some of our health workers are deemed concerned or are probably afraid to take the vaccine. Work that we have done suggests about 30% of our health workers are not taking the vaccine; so if you take every 10 of you here, at least, 3 persons have not been vaccinated,” he added.

He urged the staff to lead the campaign by taking advantage of the declaration of the month of December as vaccination month to boost public confidence.

Recently, the Ghana Health Service announced that about 10% of the total number of vaccines brought to the Volta region expired due to vaccine hesitancy and misconceptions.

Despite this, the Deputy Director in charge of Public Health in the region, Dr. Senanu Kwesi Djokoto in a recent interview revealed that by the end of the second week of December, an added number of 4,000 people had taken the vaccine as part of the December vaccination drive.

Dr. Djokoto further indicated that the health directorate in the region have intensified public education in a bid to get more residents vaccinated