OHANGWENA governor Walde Ndevashiya says many people in the region are willing to get vaccinated against Covid-19, but the acute shortage of vaccines has rendered them unable to do so.
Ndevashiya said the region has run out of the AstraZeneca vaccine and only has Sinopharm that is being offered to those willing to take it.
He said that the shortage is hindering the vaccination drive and delaying the region from achieving its target.
“Most people are keen to get vaccinated. Even in the remote rural areas people are willing to get vaccinated but we have a shortage of vaccines in the region. People are now getting to understand the importance of the vaccines and they are now willing to get vaccinated. I’m sure that once we have enough vaccines, we will vaccinate more people,” he said.
The governor said the region had made great strides in vaccinating as many people as possible in the past months and more people continue flocking to vaccination centres, despite the shortage of vaccines.
According to the governor, a large number of people from remote areas of the region are unable to access vaccination points.
He said the regional health directorate has set up a number of vaccination points in some rural areas because not all areas have access to vaccination points.
“Plans are in place to increase the vaccination points in rural areas. There are also outreach services which run mobile vaccination points. Ohangwena is vast and it may be a challenge to access all areas in the region but we are trying our best to ensure that all the people have access to the vaccines,” he said.
He urged the inhabitants of the region to go out in large numbers to get vaccinated against the deadly Covid-19 virus. As of 27 July, a total of 8 503 people had received their first doses of Sinopharm and AstraZeneca vaccines in the region.
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