…135 new COVID cases detected in 24 hours
The rollout of vaccination for children between the ages of five and 11 in Guyana will commence shortly, with the arrival of 50,000 doses of the vaccine – a donation from the Government of Spain.
Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Tuesday related that the vaccines will arrive next week, enabling immunisation for 25,000 children.
“This was one of the vaccines that we were trying to get for quite a while now. We are getting a donation from the Government of Spain. We’re expecting that to come in next week. It would be approximately 50,000 doses, which would then be for 25,000 children,” Dr Anthony stated.
The Government is also expecting a donation of vaccines for this age group through the COVAX mechanism.
“We are also expecting another set of vaccines for this similar age group from COVAX. They have written to us, asking us whether we would like to have some. That we will have to negotiate to see the dates when that would arrive.”
Vaccine uptake in the adolescent category, ranging from ages 12 to 17, has been quite slothful. According to the Health Minister, authorities will be leaning on the school system and parents to introduce the vaccines to this new age cohort.
“I don’t think with 25,000 children, that we should have a problem. I have been getting a lot of requests from persons who want to see their children getting vaccinated. So, I think because this is a relatively new category of persons, I don’t anticipate that we will have a problem with uptake,” he revealed.
Vaccination figures show 442,087 first doses being administered to adults, accounting for 86.2 per cent. Meanwhile, 341,687 second doses or 66.6 per cent coverage have been achieved.
For the 12 to 17 category, 34,697 or 47.6 per cent first doses were administered, followed by 25,427 or 34.9 per cent second doses. Booster shots were listed at 65,284.
Examining the booster dose coverage, he shared, “That’s an area that we’re a little worried about because we think that the uptake of booster doses could be much better. That’s something that we have to constantly keep reminding people, that they need to come out and get their booster doses. Our first dose and second dose, we’ve done well with that, but many persons now are eligible for boosters. Now we want them to come forward and get their booster.”
New cases
Meanwhile, active COVID-19 cases are increasing significantly in Guyana, with the rise of infections every day. A total of 135 new cases surfaced on Tuesday, taking confirmed cases up to 64,763.
Statistics show that 651 active infections are being monitored across the country.
Nevertheless, there are three persons in the Intensive Care Unit, 27 in institutional isolation, 622 in home isolation and five in institutional quarantine. From those who tested positive, 62,877 have recovered. Meanwhile, 629,486 COVID tests have been processed.
A breakdown of new cases shows that one was detected in Region One (Barima-Waini); nine in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); 23 in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); 69 in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica); two in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice); 21 in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne); three in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni); two in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and five in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice).
