By Winston W. Parley
Liberia’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Francis Karteh says the country is expected to get 96,000 vaccines as the nation races to curb the spread of the coronavirus here by next week, amid the resurgence of the third wave of the virus here.
“[Fortunately] for us, we may be getting our consignment of vaccine latest next week. We should get about 96,000. But besides the 96,000 we are expected to get additional vaccines through the AU [African Union] system, we should be [getting] another vaccine and with the European Union too, we are working with them to get an additional vaccine,” he said Wednesday, 30 June.
During a live phone conversation with local broadcaster OK FM Wednesday morning, Dr. Karteh revealed that hopefully by mid – July, Liberia should have enough vaccines to begin to inoculate residents here.
But Dr. Karteh urged that everyone should continue to wear masks, including those who are vaccinated and those who are not.
He informed the public that just on Tuesday this week, Liberia had recorded an additional 193 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s cumulative to 4,098 since the first-ever Coronavirus case was reported in Liberia from March 16, 2020, to the present.
In this week alone, he said Liberia’s cases have gone up to 362 new cases since Sunday, compared to a total of 689 confirmed cases that were recorded for the whole of last week, the highest the country has ever had since the response began in 2020.
“And it seems that we may exceed that 600 if things continue the way [they are] going,” Dr. Karteh warned, though he urged the public not to panic but to continue to wear masks, observe the social distance, wash hands, seek treatment when feeling unwell and if illness persists after two days of treatment, do a rapid Covid – 19 test at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center, among others.
As of Wednesday, Dr. Karteh said Liberia had 65 patients in the treatment unit of whom 62 are confirmed cases of the virus while results for the others are pending. He added that 49 of the 65 cases are severe cases, meaning they are oxygen-dependent.
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He reported that two additional patients were admitted to the treatment unit earlier on Tuesday, and eight patients were discharged while one death was recorded. Overall, he said Liberia has recorded a little over 120 coronavirus deaths cumulatively since the crisis.
Dr. Karteh said 12 of Liberia’s 15 counties are now in response, while the remaining three counties including Grand Kru, River Gee, and Grand Gedeh are still standing and are in preparedness.https://thenewdawnliberia.com/stop-hijacking-covid-19-vaccines-exports/
