…says Health Minister, as young people start taking their ‘jabs’

OVER the past few weeks, there has been an increase in the number of young people becoming infected with the disease, COVID-19, and also an increase in the number of COVID-19 deaths among this population, and Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony underscored that this should be a reason for younger people to get vaccinated.
During his daily COVID-19 update, the Health Minister related that more young people have been hospitalised after exhibiting the more severe symptoms of COVID-19.
Additionally, he noted that more relatively young persons, like those in their 40s, for example, have been found to have comorbidities (underlying diseases such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension) when they become hospitalised due to COVID-19. And, the minister noted that such individuals have lost their lives.
It is important to note that individuals with comorbidities are at an increased risk of contracting the more severe form of COVID-19, and succumbing to the disease.
“This is a worrying trend, and we are examining the data to see how many cases we’ve had, and what we can do about it,” the Health Minister said, emphasising: “There is a real, practical reason why everyone who is 18 years and older should go and get your vaccine; that is to protect you from COVID, and ensure that you don’t die from COVID.”

During an interview on Thursday, Adviser to the Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy told the Guyana Chronicle that the country is experiencing a third wave, or surge, in COVID-19 cases. This, he explained, is attributed to a deadlier form of the novel coronavirus circulating locally. On Thursday night, he announced on his Facebook page that the ministry would begin vaccinating all individuals 18 years and older from Friday. Following his announcement, scores of young persons visited vaccination sites all over the country to get their vaccines.
“I took the vaccine because I usually have to travel a lot because of my work. I would like to stay safe,” Donavon Rangiah, a 26-year-old attorney-at-law said on Friday after taking his vaccine. He took his vaccine at the Ministry of Health’s Secretariat, on Brickdam, Georgetowm. He said that he wanted to take his vaccine sooner, but could not, because he was not 40 years or older. As such, he welcomed the move to afford younger persons the opportunity to get vaccinated. Julia Mohabir, a 28-year-old medical assistant, also received her vaccine on Friday, and was happy that the age limit was reduced to allow younger persons like herself the opportunity to get protection. Also receiving the vaccine at the Secretariat was Dane Kennedy, a 31-year-old self-employed chef, who said that the process was surprisingly smooth. “I hope that things would change with the vaccine and so; I hope it would go back to normal,” Kennedy said.

At the end of Thursday, more than 73,000 persons had taken the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Explaining the rationale behind allowing all adults to get vaccinated, Dr. Anthony said: “We think it is the appropriate time now, because we have been getting a lot of calls from the public to reduce the age. And so we have gone now to 18 years and above.”
He also explained that for the country to achieve herd immunity, a large section of the adult population would have to be vaccinated. Herd immunity will occur once about 80 per cent of the population is immune to the disease. Vaccination is a way of ensuring immunisation.
Importantly, the Health Minister related that infection rates among the younger population have always been high.
“When we review the data of the 11,000 or so cases that we’ve had of people who would’ve recovered, in the 20 to 25 age group, we’ve had in excess of 1,500 infections; the 25 to 30 age group, we would’ve had more than 1,600 infections; and the 30 to 35 age group, that would’ve been about 1,200 infections,” he said.
Before, however, many of these individuals were asymptomatic (not exhibiting any symptoms of COVID-19). The Health Minister said that this may be because this group of people were more active, and were breaching the COVID-19 guidelines. Now, with the deadlier variant affecting the younger population, it has become a more concerning issue.