Reg. Two among the regions with low vaccination rate
--Health Minister sounds warning for severe cases, deaths
Region Two (Pomeroon- Supenaam) has become one of the regions where fewer residents have been getting vaccinated, and if these people remain unvaccinated, they are more likely to be hospitalised or worse, die from COVID-19.
This is according to the Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony, who spoke on Tuesday during his daily COVID-19 update. He highlighted that Regions Two, Eight and 10 are the regions with relatively low vaccination rates.
For months, Dr. Anthony has lamented that Regions Eight and 10 were lagging behind the national immunisation rollout for COVID-19. Efforts were made to encourage vaccination uptake in Region 10, but there still remains only a marginal increase in vaccination rates.
“… We would therefore expect that, at some point, when we get cases from these regions, we will probably see some of the more severe cases coming out that require hospitalisation, and if [people] remain unvaccinated, some will die,” Dr. Anthony warned.
He also explained that a decline in infections would be expected in those regions and areas where there is a high vaccination uptake. As such, he urged unvaccinated people to get vaccinated and protect themselves from experiencing the more severe and life-threatening forms of COVID-19.
In addition to the areas with low vaccination coverage, Dr. Anthony also stated that Tuschen, Parika and Parfaite Harmonie are among those communities with a significant number of COVID-19 infections in Region Three. In Region Four, Sophia, Kitty, Campbellville and Cummings Lodge have a number of infections.
Meanwhile, in Region Six, New Amsterdam has recorded a spike in the number of people infected; in Region 10, many of the infected people are from Wismar and Amelia’s Ward.
Currently, 396,840 people or 77.4 per cent of Guyana’s adult population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine; 271,206 people or 59.2 per cent of the population have received two doses of a vaccine.
For children aged 12 to 18 years old, some 28,769 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been administered; 19,946 of these children have received both their first and second doses and could be considered fully vaccinated.
While Dr. Anthony urged unvaccinated people to get vaccinated, he pointed out that the local health authorities have started administering booster doses to some categories of people.
For people vaccinated with the two-dose COVID-19 vaccines, a booster shot would be a third dose; for people vaccinated with the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine, a booster shot would be a second dose.
