25 Nov 2021

Some people in the Ngami health area are reluctant to get the second dose of COVID 19 vaccine.

This was said by the Ngami District Health Management Team (DHMT) Coordinator, Dr Sandra Maripe-Ebutswe when briefing Maun Administration Authority (MAA) Councilors on Wednesday.

Dr Maripe-Ebutswe said Ngami DHMT had realized that some people were intentionally reluctant to get their second dose of the vaccine while some were those who had experienced symptoms with the first dose.

However despite this, Dr Maripe-Ebutswe said the vaccination programme was going well in the region with 40 696 people fully vaccinated and 27 7111 people having taken their first dose.

She said vaccination for the tourism sector in the Ngami health area was at 4 594 which was 85 per cent of the tourism population. 

Dr Maripe-Ebutswe said the overall target for the eligible population for vaccine aged 18 years above was at 67 per cent as the target was 60 722. She noted that Ngami health area had so far registered 142 deaths to date since the first Covid-19 case was registered.

Dr Maripe-Ebutswe observed that the health district had recently experienced a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases. Currently, she said there were 15 active cases with no registered death since October 12 to date.

She further said Ngami DHMT had resumed compulsory testing of arrivals at Maun International Airport in November which was halted in October due to lack of testing kits.

She said about 759 people were screened at Maun International Airport in November and no positive case had been registered so far. Dr Maripe-Ebutswe said the district health team still experienced challenges of shortage of gadgets for data entry, shortage of skilled personnel and non-compliance from some members of the public. ENDS