Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony says some 103,029 persons or 21.2 per cent of the adult population have received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
He was speaking during today’s COVID-19 update. The Minister said to date, 229,846 persons have received their first dose, representing approximately 47.2 per cent of the country’s adult population.
Minister Anthony said the increase in second dose vaccination, moves the country closer to beating the pandemic.
“This is pretty good because by people having both doses, we are getting closer to herd immunity. We estimate that we will have to get at least 80 per cent of our adult population vaccinated with both doses, so this is a step in the right direction.”
He said more work needs to be done to ensure the country’s adult population is vaccinated against the deadly disease. While the number of persons taking their second doses has increased, there has been a decline in first dose uptake.
Minister Anthony is assuring the population that there are enough first doses and urged individuals to get vaccinated.
“Initially we thought perhaps because of the flood people were not coming forward but in some of those areas, the flooding has eased up and we’re not seeing people coming out. So, we will do some assessment we have been talking to the Regional Health Officers (RHOs) in those regions and they have been reporting that people are a little bit more hesitant.”
He said an assessment will be conducted to determine the contributing factors of the hesitancy.
Meanwhile, Region One continues to lead the vaccination campaign with almost 60 per cent of its adult population receiving the first dose of the Covid vaccine.
Region One is at 58.6 per cent, Region Two 43.3 per cent, Region Three at 46.7 per cent, Region Four at 48.7 per cent, Region Five 49.9 per cent, Region Six at 55.1 per cent, Region Seven 46.2 per cent, Region Eight 31.7 per cent, Region Nine at 45.7 per cent, and Region Ten at 14.3 per cent.
For second doses, 24 per cent of Region Four’s adult population has been vaccinated followed by Region Six at 22.2 per cent. Region Five is at 22.1 per cent, Region Two at 21.7 per cent, Region One at 20.9 per cent, Region Three at 19.8 per cent, Region Seven at 16.8 per cent and Region Nine at 16.6 per cent. Regions Eight and Ten continue to lag behind with 11.4 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.