Many persons remain vulnerable without COVID-19 booster shot – Dr Anthony

…56 more cases recorded

The slow uptake of booster vaccine doses for COVID-19 has left many persons vulnerable to the virus and reinfection, according to Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony.
In Thursday’s coronavirus briefing, the Health Minister advised that many persons remain at high risk of COVID-19 if they have not taken the booster shot. If they are infected, there is a great possibility of developing a severe form of the novel coronavirus, and hence hospitalisation or death.
To date, about 70,000 persons have returned for their booster shots. Both first and second booster doses have been made available by the Health Ministry.
“Unfortunately, a lot of people who remain vulnerable to COVID, who can end up with a severe form of COVID, many of them have not come back for their booster doses. That’s unfortunate because a percentage of those persons, if they get infected with COVID, they can end up in the hospital and in some cases, some of those persons may die,” Dr Anthony shared.
He linked the high number of daily cases to the new Omicron subvariants that are circulating specifically BA.5, and reinfection. Another trend is older persons and those with comorbid conditions coming into the hospitals.
“That’s one of the challenges we have. A lot of persons are getting reinfected…There are persons, believe it or not, who still have not taken vaccines. Now, while we’re seeing a few cases like that, we also have persons who took vaccines, but the last dose was probably more than a year ago. If you want to be up to date with protection against COVID-19, every six months you would have to take a booster.”
In terms of vaccination statistics, 444,950 or 86.7 per cent of adults have taken their first dose; with 344,596 (67.2 per cent) returning for their second doses.
For the age 12 to 17 category, 35,373 first doses (48.5 per cent) and 25,876 second doses (35.5 per cent) have been delivered. In the five to 11 age group, there is an uptake of 6325 first doses or 6.2 per cent with 1529 second doses (1.5 per cent) administered.

New positives
In Guyana, 56 more persons have been infected. Confirmed positive cases have reached 69,676 with a death toll of 1271.
Only one person is seeking treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). A total of 21 persons are in institutional isolation, 615 in home isolation and two in institutional quarantine. About 67,768 recoveries have been reported. Meanwhile, 674,485 tests have been processed to date.
A breakdown of the cases reported on Thursday revealed two were detected in Region One (Barima-Waini), one in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), 20 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), 27 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), four in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and two in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
In the Region of the Americas, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is pegged at over 169 million with a death toll of 2.7 million. Globally, the confirmed positives stand in excess of 571 million with more than 6.3 million reported deaths.
If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, or need any additional information, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline on 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy. (G12)