12% of Guyana’s adult population fully immunised against COVID-19

Though Guyana has a far way to go before achieving herd immunity against the COVID-19 virus, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, has reported that 12 per cent of the country’s adult population have been fully immunised.

The Health Minister during his daily COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday explained that the percentage equates to 58,380 Guyanese who have received both doses of their vaccine.

To achieve herd immunity, 80 per cent of the population would need to be fully vaccinated. Added to that, Dr Anthony reported that 38.4 per cent of the adult population or 187,234 persons have received their first doses of either the Russian Sputnik V, Chinese Sinopharm, and Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.

With the fully vaccinated population, the minister disclosed too there have been no reports of persons becoming infected with the COVID-19 virus, or dying. Currently, there are over 100 COVID-19 vaccination sites operating countrywide.

Dr Anthony relayed that over the last 24 hours, close to 6,000 first and second doses were administered, noting that Region Six (Corentyne-Berbice) remains in the lead for the highest vaccination rate with 45 per cent of its adult population already receiving their first doses.

According to Dr Anthony, Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice) is still lagging behind along with Regions One, Seven, and Eight.

“There are still some pockets of hesitancy found throughout those regions. As fast as we identify communities that are hesitant, we try to find what is causing the hesitancy and apply the appropriate methodology,” Dr Anthony said.