No hitches in anti-swine flu campaign

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Friday June 25, 2010 00:00

'We have received a remarkable turnover of people coming for the vaccine and this shows us that people have received the information and see the need to take the vaccine,' she said.

She emphasised that it is important that people get the vaccination to protect themselves from the AH1N1 influenza 2009 virus for at least a year. She said that even though it is midway into the winter season, it is still important that people get vaccinated since it is around the same time that the first incident of swine flu was reported in Botswana last year.

'The first case in Botswana was reported on July 10, which means we are still at risk of having the outbreak again,' she said.  El-Halabi said that people might be exposed to the flu as they move to other countries, or as they interact with others who come from abroad. She stated that the Botswana government has secured about 100 percent provision of the vaccine from World Health Organisation (WHO) while other countries would have to purchase most of the vaccine. 'WHO has provided us with 1.6 million doses, which is almost 100 percent of what we need for our population. 

Countries like South Africa have been given only 10% of what they need and they will have to purchase the vaccine for their population, and we should therefore consider ourselves very fortunate,' she said. 

She said that the vaccination is provided freely at all government health facilities during normal working hours.  The vaccination is provided at private health facilities that the ministry has partnered with for the campaign.

The campaign started on Monday with health workers, officers at ports of entry, pregnant women, people with heart diseases, diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure and cancers aged 11 to 64 years getting the vaccine.

The second phase is targeting children aged six months to 10 years. Phase three is dedicated to persons aged 11 to 39, years while the last phase will be for all people above 39. El-Halabi said that these phases were decided after analysis of cases reported worldwide including Botswana indicated that certain age groups and health conditions make some people more vulnerable than others. 

'The campaign therefore starts with the most vulnerable groups going down until the last group that needs the vaccine,' said El-Halabi.

However, she said that the vaccine is taken voluntarily from health facilities, and that parents will have to give consent of whether school going children get the vaccine.