─ regional vaccination campaigns doing well
Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony says 187,234 persons or 38.5 per cent of Guyana’s adult population have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. From that amount, 58,380 or 12 per cent of the adult population have been fully immunised.
During Tuesday’s COVID-19 update, Dr. Anthony said the vaccination campaign has been improving steadily. He noted that all Regions are showing signs of increased vaccinations, although Region 10 still lags behind.
“For first dose, the Region that is doing extremely well would be Region Six at 45 per cent of their regional population, regional adult population that is, and the one that is not doing well is Region Ten, which still remains about 11.2 per cent with their population.”
“Region Ten, at one point we were at nine per cent, so that has increased marginally. We have a lot more work to be done in Region Ten and again, we are appealing to everyone to come out and get their vaccines.”
The Minister reiterated that the COVID-19 vaccines currently in use in Guyana have been tested and work effectively. He said at the moment, more than one billion persons around the globe have taken the vaccines. Minister Anthony said the National COVID-19 Task Force continues to work with groups and organisations across the country to address vaccine hesitancy.
“In some of the other regions like in Regions Seven, Eight, Region One, there are pockets of hesitancy and we have identified particular communities where there is a high level of hesitancy and we have asked different community leaders to go in, religious leaders, to talk to those persons in the particular area, hoping that we can provide them with accurate information, which would lead to them taking their vaccine.
It’s an ongoing job of talking to people, giving them the information so that they can make a decision.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony said the Ministry will be holding another COVID-19 vaccination drive-through at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence on Wednesday. The exercise will begin at 9 am and end at 5pm.