One year on, vaccine hesitancy still an issue in some hinterland communities

Though the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign got underway in February 2021, vaccine hesitancy remains a challenge in some hinterland communities, Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony has said.

“We have been sending out teams in the various locations to administer vaccines but in some of the communities there is a lot of hesitancy,” the Health Minister said during his daily COVID-19 update on Thursday.

Despite this prevailing challenge, he reported that the hinterland regions- Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine- have been inching towards widespread vaccination coverage.

In Region One (Barima- Waini), some 89.1 per cent of adults have received atleast one vaccination dose; 53.9 per cent of those adults have received two vaccine doses.

In Region Seven (Cuyuni- Mazaruni), some 85.2 per cent of adults received one dose while 60.1 per cent received two doses.

In Region Eight (Potaro- Siparuni), the figure is much lower with only 53 per cent of adults receiving one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while 43.2 per cent of adults received two doses.

Finally, in Region Nine (Upper Takutu- Upper Essequibo), some 77.8 per cent of adults have received one vaccine dose while 59.3 per cent of the adults have received two doses.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccine hesitancy refers to delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of vaccine services.