AH1N1 vaccination campaign ends

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Wednesday August 18, 2010 00:00

Principal Health Officer at the Ministry of Health, Bakanoki Nfila, informs Mmegi that the campaign, which ended yesterday, exhausted all the vaccines they had.  'Vaccines are not likely to remain at all since they are in demand,' she said. The Ministry had 1,6 million vials, but now has only 1,000 vials left.  However, the ministry is still waiting for different districts to compile and report on the figures of people who received the vaccine.

Early this year, the government secured about 100 percent provision of the vaccine from World Health Organisation (WHO) while other countries had to purchase most of the vaccine.  So, the government encouraged people to get the vaccine to protect themselves from the AH1N1 influenza 2009 virus for at least a year.

The campaign, which targeted both citizens and non-citizens was rolled out in four phases, with the first phase targeting health workers, officers of ports of entry, pregnant women, people with heart disease, diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure and cancers aged 11 to 64 years. The second phase targeted children aged six months to 10 years, while phase three targeted 11 to 39 years and phase four targets all people above 39 years.

All people were to be vaccinated except children under six months, those who are allergic to chicken eggs and those who have a history of reacting to other influenza vaccines.

AH1N1 influenza is transmitted through coughing or sneezing by people with the disease, touching objects and surfaces contaminated with droplets containing influenza virus and touching secretions like saliva, mucus of an infected person. In Botswana the first case was reported on July 10 last year. 

However, there has not been any official report of death cased by AH1N1 influenza. 

The Director of Public Health, Shenaaz El-Halabi, said that the vaccination was pre qualified and that they did not expect any drastic reactions from the vaccine. However, there have been public claims that people fell ill from the disease, while others claimed sudden deaths from the vaccine.  However, there has been no proof that these deaths were related to the vaccine.