31% of population received first dose of COVID vaccine – Health Minister

Deeming it an impressive achievement, the Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, on Thursday reported that as of Wednesday, 31% of Guyana’s population have received their first jab of vaccines against the dreaded Coronavirus.

But while this is a good milestone, the minister underscored the need for persons to come out and get vaccinated in order to push that number higher.

Giving in-depth statistics, Dr Anthony stated in his daily COVID-19 update that for persons 60 years and older, 61.3% have already received their first dose.

“That’s good and we would like that to go up to 80% soon because this is the most vulnerable age group. While this is a good number, we still want to increase that number and I am sure within the next couple weeks, we can increase that number,” Dr Anthony said.

For those persons in the 40 years to 59 years category, 28.6% received their first dose while 20.9% received their first jab in the 18 to 39 years category.

According to Dr Anthony, the Health Ministry noticed that many of the persons being hospitalised with serious complications and those who died over the last couple of months emerge from the 40 years to 59 years age category.

This is why, he noted, it is imperative for persons to be fully vaccinated.

“The vaccines being administered help to prevent you from dying and reduce complications from the virus so persons within this age group need to come out and get their vaccines,” the minister urged.

Recently, Dr Anthony revealed that there is no harm in receiving one of the COVID-19 vaccines that is administered locally even if an individual has been infected with the novel coronavirus but is asymptomatic (showing no symptoms).

The Health Minister had explained that there is no need for testing to be done before someone is administered with a COVID-19 vaccine, stating that the World Health Organization (WHO) has advised against this.