Kharas Regional Health Director, Sandra !Owoses has said the community should be more afraid of contracting COVID-19 than of being vaccinated against the virus. Speaking during a stakeholders consultation meeting on Tuesday, !Owoses said, “it is not the first time Namibians are being vaccinated, over the years we have seen people being vaccinated against many other diseases such as polio and we are using the same process. We urge the community to be vaccinated, we have seen COVID-19 is real, people are dying and it is not funny. People are still saying COVID-19 is not real and the Government is making it up.” !Owoses said //Kharas has to date recorded 2 860 COVID-19 confirmed cases, 2 778 recoveries and 41 deaths. The region currently has 42 active cases. “We are still not out of danger, yes, we have seen a decrease in cases in our region but it is perhaps because we are not testing enough,” she added. The director revealed that the region will launch phase one of its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Friday. It received about 3 500 doses. !Owoses said the phase targets health workers, police officers, journalists, immigration officers, truck and bus drivers, employees at ports of entry, and diplomats, among others. “We have decided to have a mass vaccination campaign so that we are able to reach more people in a short period. We know that we need to vaccinate at least 60 to 80% of the population to have the virus under control,” said the director. The aim of the meeting was to sensitise heads of ministries in the region, community leaders and church leaders about the roll-out of the vaccine. Keetmanshoop State Hospital Chief Medical Officer, Dr Refanus Kooper said those who are vaccinated should continue to follow the health protocols that are in place such as wearing masks, sanitising their hands and maintaining social distance. “Sanitation should continue, that is a health issue. We should keep clean. The vaccine makes you defend yourself against the virus, it builds antibodies that are needed to fight the virus, the vaccine protects you from getting into a severe condition when you get the virus so it is important that our people get vaccinated,” he said. -NAMPA