Over 184,000 persons received 1st dose COVID-19 vaccine

…drive thru initiative continues on Wednesday

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony on Monday called on persons with underlying sicknesses, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, to take the vaccine and protect themselves from existing risks.
While 67.2 per cent of persons 60 years and older have received their first jab; other figures stand at 34.9 per cent for the 40 to 59 age group and 28.9 per cent in the 18 to 39 subset. He noted that there is still need for improvement in these statistics.
“I have seen some people saying ‘I have high blood pressure. Can I get my vaccine?’ Yes, you can because the vaccine would help to protect you. Persons that would have diabetes and so forth, they need to come out because that’s what we’re calling comorbidities. You have underlying conditions that put you at risk for COVID-19. In the older age category, while we have a relatively high percentage, we still need to get more people in this age range coming out and we want to get as close as possible to 80-85 per cent,” Dr Anthony underscored during his daily COVID-19 update.
As of Sunday, 184,319 individuals received their first dose of the vaccines, measuring approximately 37.9 per cent of the adult population. Of this number, 54,691 are fully immunised or 11.2 per cent.

Vaccine drive thru
The Ministry had seen a significant turnout at its first vaccination drive thru at the National Stadium, after over 1000 shots were administered. Because of this, a similar exercise is planned for this Wednesday at the same venue from 09:00h to 17:00h.
“We had seen people from Region Three coming over. We got a lot from the East Bank. We had people from Georgetown who drove them. So, people came from predominantly Region Four and Three, which was good,” he expressed.
Meanwhile, the concept is also being considered by other regional health departments in order to attract a higher vaccination rate.
The Health Minister added, “I know some of the other Regional Health Officers in other regions have been contemplating doing similar or variations of this imitative. Region Six this week is going to set up a drive thru by the Berbice River Bridge so people can go there and get their vaccines. They’re still putting the pieces together. I know Region Two is also contemplating doing something similar.”
He also called on leaders to get immunised and spread the encouragement to people within their reach.
“I think it’s important that leaders urge people to come out and get vaccines. And those leaders who have not been vaccinated should also take their vaccine, take a photograph of it, post it, so that other people can see; to encourage and inspire other people to get their vaccines.” (G12)