Health Minister tells House at least 16.8% of adult population fully immunised

Jun 11, 2021 News

Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines…

Kaieteur News – Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, told the National Assembly yesterday that Guyana’s efforts to immunise its population are underway with at least 16.8 percent of the adult population being immunised.

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony.

Dr. Anthony was at the time presenting an update on the countrywide immunisation efforts against the deadly COVID-19 virus, at the beginning of the 28th Sitting of the 12th Parliament.
“As of yesterday, we were able to give out 297,490 doses of the first dose of the COVID-19 Vaccines; 81,761 of those have been fully immunised, which is equivalent to about 16.8 percent of the adult population being fully-vaccinated,” the Health Minster said in his presentation.
During his remarks, Dr. Anthony also lauded the health workers for their diligence in ensuring that the population is vaccinated. He noted however, that Guyana cannot successfully exit the pandemic until every eligible person is immunised.
“Mr. Speaker unlike other countries, Guyana has secured enough vaccines to immunise its entire adult population…Our main challenge is vaccine hesitancy which is often fuelled by careless and irresponsible talk. I urge every one of us to be mindful and cautious about the potential harm we can cause by being mindful of those careless remarks,” Minister Anthony said. He noted vaccines have proven effective in countries in parts of the world, which were able to make headway in their efforts to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have made some progress, but Mr. Speaker we still have much ground to cover… While the elderly population, which is the most affected adult category in terms of disease, has stepped up and taken their vaccines, persons between 18-39 age group are still below 40 percent. We need to encourage our younger persons to come out to get vaccinated since this group represents people who are also severely affected,” Minister Anthony stressed as he made an appeal for the younger population to join in the vaccination drive. According to Anthony, 72.4 percent of the population 60 years and above has been vaccinated.
While there has been some delay in delivery of some of the vaccines, the Minister noted that persons who have received their first dose of the vaccine, and are eligible for their second dose, must return for their second shot.
He emphasised that “receiving only one dose of the vaccine would not fully immunise them against the virus.”
Meanwhile in a regional breakdown of vaccination rates, Dr. Anthony noted that some Regions have been lagging behind others.
“Region Six has recorded 51.9 percent of the population receiving at least their first dose of the vaccine, all the rest, most of the other Regions are either in their fifties, or in their forties. So we would like to see improvement in [Region] 10, and hopefully, we can urge people to come out and get vaccinated,” he expressed.
Coming in second behind Region Six with the vaccination campaign is Region One, which has vaccinated 51 percent of its adult population; followed by Region Five with 47.8 percent; then Region Four with 45.2 percent; Region Three with 43.8 percent; Region Seven with 43.6 percent; Region Nine with 41.9 percent; Region Two with 41.4 percent, and lastly, Region Eight with 28.3 percent of their adult population vaccinated.

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