The vaccination of health workers in the Dormaa Central Municipality against the COVID-19 has commenced.

The exercise, which started on Thursday March 25, 2020 covered a little over 100 health workers as well as prominent personalities including; Mr. Drissa Ouattara, the Dormaa Central Municipal caretaker Chief Executive, Odeneho Akosua Fima Dwabeng II, the Paramount Queen mother of Dormaa Traditional Area and Superintendent Boakye Ansah, Dormaa Municipal Police Commander taking the shots.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA)in Dormaa Ahenkro, Mr Stephen Ameyaw Nyarkoh, the Dormaa Central Municipal Director of Health stated that the exercise was held at all the five Sub-districts across the Municipality, where vaccination centres were mounted for health workers in the area to be vaccinated.

"The objective of the divisions was to avert the situation, where all health workers from different parts of the Municipality would have to flock to one vaccination centre at the Health Directorate to get their shots," he added.

Mr Ameyaw Nyarkoh said a total of 805 health workers in the Municipality were expected to be inoculated at the end of the five-day exercise.

The Health Director said the start was hit with a technical hitch and some challenges as the system used in processing people’s data was slow.

He said the process affected the pace of the exercise at the Centre in the Health Directorate saying the officers were carefully monitoring the situation to make informed decisions and communications with the other sub-districts working with.

Mr Ameyaw Nyarkoh stated that the challenge had already been mentioned to the ICT officers at the National and Regional offices to inform them to act and find solutions that could stabilize the system for effective and efficient performance.

He added that though a lot of misinformation around the vaccine had been circulated in the area, "people had anxiously and desperately visited the Centres to enquire if they could be vaccinated".

The public will be informed when enough vaccines are received from the national headquarters through the regions and will be vaccinated accordingly, he added.

Mr Ameyaw Nyarkoh stated that the exercise would be rolled out in phases to include other sections of the populace including; the media and security officers, saying the vaccination was free and warned members of the public to report individuals who approached them individually claiming they were authorized to vaccinate people.

Shortly after taking the jab, Mr Drissa Ouattara, the Dormaa Central Municipal Chief Executive urged the people to be inspired by the actions of the President and other high ranking government officials to take their shots.

"I have taken mine and do not feel anything bad right now," he added.