By Emmanuel Chilemba
Blantyre District Health Office, has called upon residents in the district to visit Health Centres to get Covid-19 vaccine booster doses.
Booster doses are additional vaccines administered to help restoring body’s immune response against Covid-19 after receipt of the first full dose.
Addressing the members of the media on Wednesday, the District’s Director of Health Services, Dr. Gift Kawalazira said vaccination is the most effective way of containing the further spread of the pandemic hence the need for people to get the Jab.
He said: “ln this exercise we are targeting people who are at highest risk of developing serious diseases or dying from Covid-19, we are talking of people who are 65 years old and above, people who are suffering from diseases like High Blood pressure, Asthma, Diabetes and other serious diseases.
“These are potentially candidates to get booster vaccines. So they should actually visit our vaccination centres and they will be advised on how best they can get booster vaccines,” said Dr Kawalazira.
The development comes barely a few days after the Malawi Immunization Technical Advisory Group (MAITAG) submitted recommendations to the Ministry of Health to encourage people to get a booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
Dr. Kawalazira further pointed out that the Health authorities in the district are making strides in the fight against the further spread of the pandemic citing the drastic decrease of the cases.
He attributed the development to massive Covid-19 awareness campaigns that his office has been conducting in the district.
However, Kawalazira, cautioned the residents of the district that this should not make them to relax in observing preventive measures of the pandemic arguing that getting vaccinated is the most effective way of containing the further spread of the virus.
As of 13th March 2022, the Health authorities in the district had managed to vaccinate over 200,000 people against the projected target of 800,000.
