–Vice-President Jagdeo

VICE-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has expressed his disappointment with the vaccine hesitancy being displayed by some doctors and nurses.
The Vice-President shared this during an interview with social commentator, The Guyanese Critic on Wednesday.
“Doctors and nurses are in a science-based field. How could you be in a science-based field, and then have these weird views about vaccines? It is almost unacceptable. And teachers, first of all, they should be teaching; they should be educated, reading, and then they succumb to rumors and unsubstantiated views,” Dr. Jagdeo said.
The Vice-President said the government is expending billions of dollars to procure vaccines to achieve herd immunity, and is appealing to persons to take the ‘jab’.
“This is a struggle. What bothers me is that we are trying to save lives; imagine they are protesting a government trying to save lives; trying to get you immunised so that you don’t die,” Dr. Jagdeo said, adding: “We’re saying please get your vaccine; it costs us money. We bought the vaccine; people are struggling around the world to get the vaccine. We bought it; just take the vaccine so that you can protect yourself and your family.”

Dr. Jagdeo also addressed reports of patients being denied access to hospitals. He emphasised that vaccinated or not, patients should not be denied access to a public hospital.
A notice from the Ministry of Health has since stated that any person accompanying a patient to a public hospital must present their vaccination card or a negative PCR result.
More than 50 per cent of the adult population has taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while some 30 per cent has been fully vaccinated.
Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony says that in a few weeks’ time, the government will be procuring COVID-19 vaccines for children. As he delivered the feature address Wednesday morning at the St. Ambrose Secondary School on Third and Light Streets here in Georgetown, Minister Anthony said that in order to roll out the plan, the support of both parents and teachers is vital.
“We are also working to make sure that we provide vaccination for children between the ages of 12 and 18,” Dr. Anthony said, adding: “Right now, we don’t have those types of vaccines in Guyana, but we are working to make sure that we could get those vaccines for children.
We anticipate that in another couple of weeks, we will get those vaccines. And when we get those vaccines, we would require the cooperation of both parents and teachers, so that we could get those vaccines administered as quickly as possible.”
The only vaccine granted authorisation, so far, for emergency use in children ages 12 to 15, is the Pfizer vaccine. (DPI)