Vaccination remains one of the powerful defences against the coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Health organization (WHO).
To achieve this, the government of Sierra Leone has committed to vaccinate 70 percent of the country targeted population by the end of 2022.
So far 26.2% of the target population have been fully vaccinated, according to Data from the Ministry of Health. The coverage is still very low, and this means more efforts are needed to reach the wider population to protect them from the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.
The country has received 4,231,960 doses of COVID-19 vaccines but only 2,840,356 doses have been administered as of May 7, 2022, according to the Ministry of Health.
Risk Communications Lead at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Harold Thomas said that the target will be attained.
He said that the health ministry is working with the World Health Organization and other deployment partners to step up the uptake in the country. He said they are working to ensure no one is left behind during the campaign.
He said that when they take the vaccine to the doorstep of people, they are more than willing to take the vaccine “because they have seen that over a year there is no reported case of any serious complications or adverse effects”.
“We have vaccinated more than the 29% of the population,” he said, adding that they have seen an increase in vaccination, but there is delay in inputting data into the Directorate of Health Security and Emergencies (DHSE) platform, so there is backlog of data that is overdue for entry.
“We have a lot of vaccines now, if we need more, we can request through the COVAX facility. Vaccines and reluctancy is not our problem,” Thomas said.
“Hopefully we are trying to reach the 70 % the target population. We have several months to do that through the intensify vaccination phases.”
He said that Health Ministry is implementing different methods to increase uptake, adding that some of the approach include public education, internal and partnered communication coordination, engagement with targeted communities, and rumor management and monitoring.
The risk communication lead said that, during the different waves, they having been taking the vaccine to doorstep of people through the intensify vaccination activities and they have completed seven phases.
Dr Julius Spenser is the adviser at the National Emergency Response Centre (NaCOVERC) who is also expert in communication. He said if the government is to attain 70 percent vaccine upake, it must step up sensitization and making the vaccine accessible especially now that the risk perception about the pandemic is low. He said that countries that have succeeded in recording high vaccine uptake established structures that make it easier for people to access the vaccines.
He said that since the lifespan of the vaccines are short, it important to allocate more resources to promote sensitization and vaccine uptake.
Majority of Sierra Leoneans will take a COVID-19 vaccination when it is available, according to a study which was done by Focus 1000, a non-governmental operating in Sierra Leone.
The vaccination acceptance study shows that nearly half of all respondents (46%) were aware of the Covid-19 vaccines, and 72%, (three-fourth) of respondents said they were willing to take the vaccine.
This story was put together with support from Journalists for Human Rights and the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) 2022 Journalism Fellowship
By Alusine Sesay