Govt reinforces the need for persons to get booster shots

Government has stressed the need for persons to take their booster shots to maintain the level of effective protection against the various strains of coronavirus.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony on Tuesday stated that administering the booster shots throughout the country remained a challenge.

The number of persons receiving booster doses is much lower than anticipated, thus more persons are being encouraged to take these doses.
“For vaccination, we do between 150 to 200 doses per day and currently, in terms of booster doses, we have administered 75,496 doses,” the Health Minister said.
He disclosed that 1435 boosters have been administered in Region One (Barima-Waini), 3362 in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 10,350 in Region Three (West Demerara-Essequibo Islands), 37,344 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), 4394 in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) , 12,109 in Region Six (Corentyne-East Berbice) , 972 in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), 1177 in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), 3453 in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) , and 900 in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
Dr Anthony noted that in some regions, people have not been coming forward to take the booster dose, “and we want to encourage them. Without these booster doses, their immune system will not be primed. We have been encouraging older people to make sure that they come out and get their booster doses”.
As it relates to persons receiving the booster doses by age category, Minister Anthony pointed out that 738 were within the 12-17 age category; 12,420 between 18 and 29; 12,027 persons between 30 and 39; 27,999 persons between 40 and 59; and 22,312 for persons 60 years and older.
“The older persons and those who really need their boosters, we need to do more work in that age category, because they stand to benefit the most. So, I am hopeful that we can encourage more people to come out, especially, older people and people with comorbidities to come out and get their booster shots,” the Minister explained.
Dr Anthony is appealing to persons with other chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart conditions, who are more susceptible to COVID-19, to get their booster doses.
Meanwhile, he stated, “over the last 24 hours, we have identified one new case, and currently we are tracking 14 new cases of COVID across Guyana.”