More than 135 200 children were immunised against measles and rubella countrywide by Monday as part of the Integrated Vaccination Campaign by the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
The two-week campaign started last week and ends this Friday.
The Ministry of Health’s Director of Primary Health Care, Naemi Shoopala, told Nampa the campaign is progressing well as parents and guardians are responding positively and bringing their children to be immunised.
The campaign offers a wide range of health services including measles and rubella immunisation for children between nine months and five years, polio, pentavalent and pneumococcal vaccines for children up to five years, Vitamin A for children aged between six months and five years, as well as Albendazole for deworming, given to children aged 12 months to five years.
The immunisation campaign was largely necessitated by the outbreak of measles in the Omusati Region and the re-emerging polio outbreaks on the continent.
During the campaign, the ministry is also screening children for malnutrition, and providing ready-to-use therapeutic food to children who are found to be malnourished.
Shoopala stated that by 15 August, 144 953 children had received Vitamin A, while Albendazole was administered to 124 575 children.
Besides immunisation for children, the ministry is also providing tetanus vaccination for women aged 15 to 49 years, Covid-19 vaccination for persons aged 12 and above, as well as iron supplementation for pregnant women. Since the campaign kicked off last week, 10 057 first doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered.
Shoopala further said the ministry has received support from various institutions since the beginning of the campaign, especially from development partners. Constituency councillors have also been on radio and other platforms informing their constituents about the vaccination campaign.
Highlighting some of the challenges, Shoopala noted that although parents bring their children for routine immunisation, they themselves continue to be reluctant to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
“Indecisiveness and fear of the unknown are some of the reasons for non-vaccination. However, we would like to reassure the public that Covid-19 vaccines are safe. They serve the same purpose as other immunisation, and that is offering protection against viral infection. It reduces the risks of severe illness, hospitalisation and death when one contracts the virus.”
She emphasised that it is important that Namibia catches up on the Covid-19 vaccination targets to ensure that the country achieves 70 per cent coverage by December 2022.
“We must close the gap and get ourselves out of the annual cycles of Covid-19 waves. We cannot afford to lose more lives. We must get vaccinated.”
To date, more than 4 070 people have died of Covid-19 in Namibia.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
