Africa-Press – Botswana. A report by the Greater Francistown District Health Management Team (DHMT) has revealed that 78% of the eligible population in the region has shunned the COVID-19 vaccine booster jabs.
Greater Francistown (DHMT) Public Health Specialist, Dr Goitsileene Monamodi said only 22% of the eligible population has taken up their booster shots.
He said 28,385 people have received their booster shots against an eligible population of 129,626 that is fully vaccinated in their area.
Monamodi stated that generally there is a low demand for the COVID-19 booster shots in the Greater Francistown compared to the rest of the country.
“There is an observed correlation that when the disease burden goes down, there is a subsequent downward trend of the demand for vaccines including booster doses. Fake news on vaccines and related side effects continue to be another challenge in the campaign for vaccination,” he explained. When speaking about children’s vaccination, the local public health specialist indicated that their target population is 26,134. He said 69% of the targeted child population was given the second dose.
Children between the ages of 12 and 17 years are vaccinated. Monamodi furthermore highlighted that amongst children vaccinated 9,296 are females while 8,780 are males.
He stressed the point that some parents are still reluctant to bring their children for vaccination. Monamodi was concerned about parents who are reluctant to bring their children for their second dose. According to the public health expert, most of the side effects experienced by children were adequately managed.
“As of now (May 11), we are not aware of any child who has had severe side effects after vaccination, but we encourage people to continue reporting any adverse effects following the jab to our nearest health facilities. We continue to give health education to communities to report any adverse or side effects,“ he said. In a bid to engage people to take their booster shots, Monamodi stated that they have made plans to actively go to places of work, residences, social clubs, and any other places where there is a group of people who need to take their booster shots.
“Any group of at least 10 people can contact the DHMT to go to where they are for the booster vaccination,” he said.
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