COVID-19 vaccines can be administered at home for vulnerable persons

The Health Ministry is encouraging guardians or caregivers to utilise the option of having health professionals visit their homes to administer the COVID-19 vaccines to individuals who are incapable of going to the various sites to get the jabs.

This initiative was piloted in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and according to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony, he is looking to extend this option countrywide.
“Persons who have extreme difficulty to come to one of our vaccination sites, we’re encouraging the caregivers of these persons to call us and once they call us and make an appointment, we’ll then send a mobile team to go to the homes of these persons and to administer the vaccine,” Dr Anthony explained during the daily COVID-19 update on Friday.
“Right now, this is primarily done in Region Four. We’ve had relatively good uptake so far and we’re encouraged by that so we are going to try it in the other regions. So if there are anybody out there who has a sick relative that cannot walk, maybe bedridden, then give us a call, and we can bring the vaccines to the home,” the Health Minister said.
To make the appointments, persons can call 226-3116 or 632-1398.
To date, 446,293 adults have received a first dose of a COVID vaccine, representing 87 per cent of the population while 346,141 received two doses, representing 67.5 per cent.
For the 12-17 age cohort, 35,658 children received a first dose, representing 48.9 per cent while 26,186 received two doses, representing 35.9 per cent.
For the 5-11 category, 8031 or 7.9 per cent received a first dose while 3656 or 6 per cent received two doses.
To date, 73,092 booster doses have been administered to date.
The expiry dates of the current batch of vaccines vary, Dr Anthony noted, with some expiring in a few months while others have a shelf-life that runs into the new year.
Meanwhile, he explained that though many persons are getting milder forms of the infection, there are individuals who can still get hospitalised.
“You have a combination of people who would have received vaccines, there might have been a lot of people who got infected as well so they have some immunity because of the past infections. Perhaps when you combine that, in the population, you would have a substantial amount of persons who would have some level of immunity against COVID,” the Health Minister explained.
“What we’re seeing now is when people get infected, they get a milder form of the infection, most people that is…for a small subgroup of people, especially those who are older and they have other illnesses, they unfortunately can have more severe symptoms which would require hospitalisation and further treatment in the hospital.”
“So, to be on the safe side, because we don’t know who would eventually present with symptoms that require hospitalisation, the safest thing to do, is to make sure that your vaccinations are up to date,” Dr Anthony affirmed.

24 new cases; no ICU patients
Twenty-four new novel coronavirus infections were recorded within the last 24 hours, taking the total positives detected to date to 71,174. Of these total positives, 32,624 are males while 38,550 are females.
There are seven persons hospitalised, none of whom are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). There are 165 persons isolating at home and zero individuals in institutional quarantine.
Recoveries stand at 69,723 while the death toll remains at 1279.
The total number of COVID tests administrated to date is 690,598.
In Region One (Barima-Waini), a total of 2688 COVID cases were detected there while in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 3147 were recorded.
A total of 8739 infections were registered for Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 35,434 for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), and 2576 for Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice).
Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) detected 6944 positive cases of the virus while Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) saw 2655 cases and Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), 921 cases.
For Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), there were 4348 and 3722 cases, respectively. (G11)