–32.5 per cent of Guyana’s adult population fully vaccinated

JUST one week after the Ministry of Health initiated its vaccination campaign which targets the younger population, some 6,020 persons between the ages of 12 and 18 years have already received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The Ministry of Health began vaccinating children between the ages of 12 and 18 years on August 26, 2021, after receiving a donation of 146,250 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the United States. This donation to Guyana was part of a larger contribution of 5.5 million doses from the United States Government to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

On Friday, Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony, during his COVID-19 update with the Department of Public Information (DPI), said that the records up to Thursday show that some 6,020 adolescents were vaccinated, with 1,658 doses of the Pfizer vaccine being administered on Thursday alone.

The vaccination campaign to inoculate children in a bid to protect them against the deadly COVID-19 virus commenced in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and has since moved on to Regions Three (Essequibo Islands–West Demerara), Nine (Upper Takutu–Upper Essequibo) and Six (East Berbice–Corentyne).

While the number of vaccines administered to the youth population since the campaign commenced may appear large, the numbers are anticipated to increase rapidly as the Ministry of Health moves into the other administrative regions.

In addition, Dr. Anthony said that the ministry is training more medical personnel to administer the Pfizer vaccine, so as to reduce the time it will take to immunise the target group.

“So, for the first two weeks, it’s both doing vaccination, and it’s a learning process for the staff within the region, because we have staff that went up centrally to train as well as supervise the vaccination,” Dr. Anthony said, adding:

“So far, a lot of parents have been bringing their children out to get vaccinated, and I think that’s a good thing. So I want to really encourage more parents to do that, because we want to vaccinate children so that they can return to school safely.”

On the other hand, 318,569 adults, or 62.1 per cent of the adult population, have received their first dose of one of the four COVID-19 vaccines, namely, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson, available to them.

Further, some 166,763 persons received their second dose, representing 32.5 per cent of the population.