By Peter Agengre
“Vaccination is considered one of the most cost-effective public health interventions, as it prevents the costs associated with treating and caring for people who fall sick. When we were children had it not been because of the vaccines most of us would not have been alive today.”
These were the words of Dr. Charity Binka, Executive Secretary of African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN) when she engaged the media on the uptake of vaccines in Accra. Dr. Binka recounted how infectious diseases such as poliomyelitis, measles, tetanus, diphtheria and others have been controlled through vaccination.
“All our children get vaccinated whenever they’re born. Without the vaccines, their growth and development can be truncated. Our children will need a vaccination card before they are admitted in schools within and outside the country. So we need to let the general public understand and avail themselves,” Dr. Binka reiterated.
The Covid-19 pandemic, according to her, “was brought under control after the introduction of the vaccines, saving many people from unexpected deaths.”
More than fifty journalists across the country are in a training workshop at Abokobi in the Greater Accra Region on the role of the media on vaccine uptake in the country. The media were educated that vaccines protect against outbreaks of diseases, not only those vaccinated but the vulnerable as well. They received presentations on the development of vaccines and how vaccines work in disease prevention; vaccine financing, the Covid-19 pandemic, and vaccine hesitancy, among others.
