HEALTH Minister Dr. Frank Anthony on Monday announced that Guyana has surpassed a major milestone in its vaccination campaign, fully inoculating more than half of the adult population.

During the COVID-19 update, Dr. Anthony said 51 per cent of the adult population has been fully vaccinated against the deadly virus.
“So, this is not the entire Guyanese population. Of the adult population, we have achieved the 51 per cent.”

He said that while the milestone can be applauded, some regions are still lagging in their vaccination. He said the 51 per cent, overall, was reached because of the high vaccination rate in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

“So, we are 43.2 per cent in Region One; Region Two, 41.6 per cent; for Region Three, 48.9 per cent; Region Four, 58.5 per cent; Region Five, 51.9 per cent; Region Six, 49.8 per cent; Region Seven, 46.9 per cent; Region Eight, 34.8 per cent; Region Nine at 53.4 per cent, and Region 10 at 22.3 per cent. So, these are persons 18 years and over who would have received both doses of the vaccines,” Dr. Anthony said.

As of Monday, the Ministry of Health recorded 391, 521 adults, 18 years and older taking the first dose of a ‘COVID’ vaccine, representing 76.3 per cent of that population.

Some 261,811 adults, or 51 per cent of that population, have already returned for the second dose of the vaccine.
For persons 12 to 17 years, 28, 345, or 38.9 per cent, were vaccinated with the first dose, while 19, 536, or 26.8 per cent, received the second shot.
Meanwhile, despite vaccination numbers progressively increasing, persons are still flouting the COVID-19 guidelines, adding to the number of positive cases, Dr. Anthony stated.

Just over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health detected 55 new cases, raising the current active cases to 2,412.
Of that number, 50 persons are currently hospitalised, Minister Anthony noted.

“Thirty-two persons are now at the Ocean View Hospital, with 15 of them in the ICU. The others are in different regional hospitals, like four at Suddie Hospital; three at West Demerara; two at the Region Five facility; one at Skeldon; one at Bartica; two at Mahdia; and we have four persons in the Wismar Hospital,” he said.

Region Three is still topping the chart with 1,014 cases.
Minister Anthony is urging the population, both adults and adolescents, to come forward and be vaccinated against COVID-19.