August 23, 2021
BY HAFSATU Z BANGURA
At a press conference held in Freetown, Youyi building on the 20th of August 2021, NACOVERC has revealed plans to intensify vaccination in all districts, regions, and the municipality of Freetown come the 23rd of August, 2021.
Speakers at the press conference were; Mr. Harold Thomas (communications lead) Dr. Tom Sesay (EPI program Manager), Dr. Satie Kenneth (deputy chief medical officer), Dr Sylvalie (public health surveillance, and case management lead), and deputy minister of information (Solomon Jamiru).
Dr. Kenneth dilated about the achievements made in order to curb the 3rd wave of the Corona virus as the country is currently recording single digits.
He said Sierra Leone has managed to curb the situation effortlessly whiles noting that the country has survived the 3rd wave of the virus as other countries are in their 4th wave of the virus.
He said during the 3rd wave of the virus, the situation have been of concern but more efforts are been made in vaccination rollout coupled with the enforcement of more stringent measures.
Dr Kenneth also made mention about the recent Marburg virus which is much more deadly and spreads faster than the Ebola virus of that has been detected in Guinea and Ebola that has been identified in Ivory Coast which are all Mano river union countries.
He said surveillance teams are now working tirelessly in making sure these recent viruses are combated.
He also added that testings, isolations and follow-up testings are been carried out in order to be on track as regards the virus.
“We are not only focusing on the record alert rate, but also on death alert” he pointed out.
The doctor said this is important in order to match the cases categorically, and investigate them with productive results.
He advised that the only hope for now is the vaccination and went further to encourage people to continue adhering to Covid-19 precautions and to be on the much more safer side and to prevent other viruses from surfacing and to avoid the 4th wave of Covid-19.
He also talked about heightening tight stringent security Covid-19 measures and protocols in all sectors and social places.
Dr Kenneth said Tests and genomic frequencies are being carried out in order to know the type of virus and do a case study by implementing early prevention mechanisms.
He noted that vaccination helps and it’s the most important tool in the fight against Covid-19 as other countries are now organizing social activities such as football tournaments, as this was achieved as a result of people’s willingness to take the vaccine and observe Covid-19 protocols.
He ended by saying Freetown stands as the epicenter of vaccination rollout but measures are being put in place for districts and other regions to be a part of the rollout.
Col Dr. Sylvalie (case management lead) in his opening statement, talked about the challenges faced in the medical sector that includes shortage of necessary medical supplies such as laboratory supplies, oxygen and sufficient beddings.
He said there is ongoing training of Covid-19 response staff to get them prepared for not only Covid-19 but also prevention of other viruses that are surfacing in other countries in the Mano river sub region. He revealed that the training is ongoing at Bengeuma.
He urged people to be vigilant and always adhere to all Covid protocols such as the wearing of face masks, washing and sanitizing of hands frequently and to practice social distancing as this will help curtail the spread of the virus so as to avoid another wave from happening.
He indicated that 99% of people who died are those who refused to be vaccinated and such people are at risk exposure to the virus, not debunking the fact that even vaccinated people are liable to be in contact with the virus if there is a channel responsible for that. He made mentioned of a case of 90 yrs. old man who had been diagnosed with severe co -mobilties but been vaccinated helped him survived.
Dr. Tom Sesay (vaccine pillar lead and EPI PROGRAM MANAGER) said in his opening statement a cumulative record of cases of vaccination rollout of about 164,000 people received the first dose of vaccines and another 40,000 have received the second dose.
He said one of the challenges faced in the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine was Peoples Cooperation in been vaccinated.
On the 8th of August he disclosed that the government received 96,000 doses of the vaccine from COVAX facilities that came along with the Sinopharm vaccine, whiles adding that the second dose vaccination has surpassed the first dose.
In his concluding message Dr Sesay urged Sierra Leoneans to fully participate and cooperate in been vaccinated as this is the only remedy to salvage the virus because trainings are ongoing and the increase of vaccination staff has risen from 72 -600 staffs deployed in all chiefdoms and the epicenter Freetown.