Bill for adult immunisation to fill gaps in current legislation – Health Minister

…3 new COVID-19 cases from 168 tests
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony is working to table a bill in the National Assembly in the new year that will provide for adult immunisation.
This, he noted in Tuesday’s COVID-19 update, will seek to fill the gaps that exist since the current laws only provide for immunisation in children. Once this document is brought to Parliament, it will be scrutinised and read several times.
“Our current legislation only provides for immunisation of children. It does not allow for the immunisation of adults…We have drafted a special piece of legislation that deals with immunisation of adults…Early in the new year, we want to bring that bill to Parliament and I suspect once it’s laid as it is with all bills, you would have a minimum of seven days for everyone in the Parliament to peruse the bill,” the Minister shared.
He said there can be ventilation of ideas in the National Assembly, to determine what the bill should encompass. However, the Minister clarified that in order to exit the pandemic, vaccination is essential. He added that this coronavirus was different, in the sense that older people were in need of vaccination, having analysed the risks.
“It’s really trying to fix that gap that we have in our legislation, so I don’t anticipate too many challenges with it, so you never know…These bills are not developed in a vacuum. They’re developed out of real problems, real things that people see can become problems and they’re designed to fix those. “
Dr Anthony added, “In this context, we know that the only way you can exit this pandemic is if people are immunised and one way you can get immunity is through a vaccine. If the legislation in the country does not provide for adults to get a vaccine, then I think we have a challenge there. That is why we want to make sure that we have that legislative framework.”
Guyana has been identified as one of the countries eligible for coverage under COVAX, a body of organisations including the World Health Organisation (WHO) that will ensure there is equal access to and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines when they become available on the market.

New cases
From 168 test samples, the Health Ministry on Tuesday revealed that only three returned positive results. This moved Guyana’s total confirmed cases to 6301.
The latest statistics shows the total positive cases were divided between 3260 males and 3041 females.
There are seven patients in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit, five persons in institutional isolation, 348 in home isolation and 17 in institutional quarantine. The active cases were brought down to 360 as recoveries now stand at 5777.
A breakdown shows that one new case each was detected in Region One (Barima-Waini); Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
There are still 187 cases in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 2694 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), 95 in Region Five (Demerara-Mahaica), 304 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), 537 in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), 194 in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and 396 in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo). (G12)