HIV-infected persons should get COVID-19 vaccines – Health Minister

…HIV-positive person among unvaccinated deaths

“We have a number of HIV patients who are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Unfortunately, there is some kind of myth that permeates the community of HIV-positive patients. Somehow, they believe that they should not take the vaccine and that has continued. So, I think there has been very, very low uptake with this cohort of patients and in my mind and in all of the literature that I have seen, they are at risk,” Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony stated.
He was at the time giving remarks at the graduation ceremony for participants of the Clinical Management of HIV Programme on Friday, held at Duke Lodge in Georgetown.
A collaborative initiative between the Pan Caribbean Partnership (PANCAP) against HIV/AIDS and USAID through the Washington University in the US, which commenced in April and concluded in June, saw several frontline workers benefiting from the Clinical Management of HIV Training Programme.
The Minister made a charge to the graduands of the programme, to work with the Government to educate HIV patients on the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine and encourage them to get vaccinated.
He urged the graduates to focus on convincing persons living with HIV to take the COVID-19 vaccine while sharing its importance to staying alive during the pandemic.

To this end, he made note of an unvaccinated HIV patient dying from COVID-19.
“Among the persons who have died at the hospital, I know that there was at least one case of a person who had HIV, and therefore, I think that vaccination can help and will help these patients,” the minister revealed.
In congratulating the graduands, he stated that they must use the knowledge acquired to improve the management of HIV in Guyana.
Additionally, Assistant Secretary General, Directorate of Human and Social Development, Caricom Secretariat, Dr Douglas Slater expressed his satisfaction with the execution of the programme amid the pandemic.
“Pandemic cannot and must not stop the progress if you take full advantage of the many opportunities to enhancing public health capacity, building on the virtual platform. And that is one of the things: we have lost a lot from COVID, but it has made us more efficient in some ways…We must not lose opportunities in challenges, exploit them for what you can and this is one way we have been able to do so,” Dr Slater noted.
Meanwhile, one of the graduands, Dr Malika Mootoo, who is attached to the St Joseph Mercy Hospital, stated that she has already began utilising the new approach and was, consequently, seeing positive results.
“We have tried to incorporate that in our patient care and we have certainly seen a better outcome just in these few months from April to now, we’ve been trying it and we’ve seen a really good outcome,” Dr Mootoo related.
United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch was also in attendance.