The Government’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign is moving steadily forward. 142,869 persons have so far received their first dose. 5,035 have been fully vaccinated.
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, said the figure was boosted by the increase in vaccination in Linden, Region Ten, on Sunday.
“For the first dose, as of yesterday, we had 142,869 persons receiving their first dose. For the second dose, we’ve had so far, 5,035 persons. So again, what we notice on the weekends, there is usually a drop-off in terms of uptake.
“During the week that will tend to increase. So, we will be expecting that there’ll be more people coming forward during this week to get their vaccines,” Dr. Anthony said Monday.
The Minister joined several other Cabinet Ministers in a Covid vaccination outreach to the Region.
“We ended up, at the end of yesterday, with 119 persons taking their first dose, and I think that’s a positive step. This has been the highest so far in the Region, where people came out to take their vaccines, and we will continue to encourage persons to come out and get a vaccine,” he said.
Cabinet took its outreach to the mining town, after recognizing that the vaccination rate there is significantly lower than in other regions.
“While most regions now would have accounted for maybe 30 percent or so of their adult population getting their first dose of the vaccine, what we have noticed in Linden, is that there is about 8.6 percent of the adult population who have received their first dose.
So, we wanted to go up there and to encourage people to get their vaccines,” Dr. Anthony said.
The team visited 11 vaccination sites and sensitised the public to the importance of the vaccines. Several radio and television programmes were hosted, where myths of the vaccine were dispelled.
“This will be an ongoing effort to see how we can encourage more people to come forward and get their vaccine,” the Minister added.
He noted that similar outreaches will be held in other regions, with the aim of increasing the vaccination rate. Dr. Anthony is encouraging all adults to take the COVID-19 vaccine, although it is not mandatory.
Meanwhile, he said the Ministry of Health would not be lowering the vaccine age eligibility as there are no available tests on the safety of the vaccines being used in Guyana for persons younger than 18 years.
Guyana has so far used the Oxford-AstraZeneca, the Chinese Sinopharm and Russian Sputnik V vaccines.
The Government has already received some 265,000 vaccines to inoculate the adult population.
