The risk of severe illness from COVID—19 increase with age is something global health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) as well as GAVI and others have recommended adults 65 years and older to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Those health organizations have also placed emphasis on important steps to help prevent getting sick from COVID-19, once people lure to the global vaccination exercise.
As a result, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with partners in Liberia have joined this global initiative to rollout nationwide immunization exercises since the arrival of both the AstraZeneca and the J&J vaccines that have been simultaneously or parallelly administered across the nation.
However, the Ministry of Health is expected to vaccinate about 10% of the nation’s total population as mandated by the World Health Organization. This global health benchmark, it is not clear whether the Ministry and Liberian Government would meet up with it, but expectations are surge as health authorities are optimistic about triggering it.
Daily, Liberians are gradually pulling to various vaccination sites across the nation. The Ministry and its partners are also moving into communities to get people vaccinated and tested in order to break the trade of transmission.
However, Joanna Eva George, 99, on September 08, 2021, was among the latest older people to get vaccinated with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
At this time, I like to encourage all of you with all of those theories that are so unprofaned to take their vaccines and wear their masks
As a way of providing quality routine health services to the public in general, a team of medical practitioners moved to Mrs George’s residence, where she received her dose.
“I am Joanna Eva George. I am 99 years and in December; I will be 100 years. I was informed by my children about the vaccine; therefore, I decided to be vaccinated,” she narrated.
Explaining the vaccines’ essentiality, Yornweh Ophelia Clemons (her daughter) said it’s important that people take the vaccines for their own safety because the new delta variant of the pandemic is killing people globally.
“People are dying from the virus; so we want our mother to take the vaccines,” Mrs Clemons.
For her part, Mrs Mornjay George Pratt, (another daughter of Mrs Joanna Eva George) lauded the government of President George Manneh Weah for initiating nationwide COVID-19 Vaccines immunization, which her 99 years old mother has formed a part of.
“At this time, I like to encourage all of you with all of those theories that are so unprofaned to take their vaccines and wear their masks. I have taken mine and all of our employees, we encouraged to take theirs and they had taken their vaccines”, Mrs Pratt disclosed.
She stressed the need for Liberians to embrace the vaccination and dismiss myths surrounding the vaccines’ safety
