The assault on Covid-19 is out of the starting blocks

Floris Steenkamp

The first group of people is scheduled to receive their Covid-19 vaccinations at Walvis Bay and Swakopmund today. That is to the day just over a year ago since Namibia’s first Covid-19 cases were identified.

This first phase of vaccinations target frontline health care workers, community health workers, law enforcement personnel, cross-border transport workers, and other segments of the workforce at the highest risk to contract Covid-19.
Erongo and Khomas, the two regions the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic are the first to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. This first phase of vaccinations will end on 16 April, the Minister of Health and Social Services Dr Kalumbi Shangula said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The full list of the target populations to receive the Covid-19 vaccine is: health care workers (front line and community), persons in close settings, cross-border transport employees, border entry workers, police officers, journalists, members of the diplomatic corps, mining and fisheries sectors, elected leaders, religious leaders, traditional leaders, people with dis-abilities, and refugees.

The Minister also announced that some segments of society will for now be excluded for vaccination: these are children under the age of 18, persons 60 years of age and above, pregnant and breastfeeding women, women planning pregnancy within the next six weeks, people who showed allergic reactions to the Covid-19 vaccine or other vaccines in the past, persons with a history of serious allergies, people with conditions suppressing the immune system (HIV/Aids), individuals on steroid medications, or receiving chemotherapy. People with uncontrolled Epilepsy or other neurological conditions are also excluded from the first phase of vaccinations, and people with uncontrolled conditions of diabetes, hypertension, uncontrolled heart failure, late-stage kidney disease and uncontrolled asthma.

The vaccinations take place in Swakopmund at the Cottage MediClinic, and the Swakopmund State Hospital. At Walvis Bay vaccination is conducted at the Welwitschia Private Hospital and the Walvis Bay State Hospital.
“The assault on Covid-19 is out of the starting blocks. It is almost to the day one year since the first Covid-19 cases were identified in Namibia (13 March 2020)”, a stakeholder told Namib Times yesterday.
Dr Shangula in his address urged Namibians to embrace the opportunities to get vaccinated.
“When we had a nationwide polio outbreak in 2005, we mounted a nationwide polio vaccination campaign. Today we are certified by the WHO as a polio-free country. We aim to do the same with Covid-19”, Dr Shangula concluded.