“Too early” to decide on 2nd booster shot – Health Minister

…encourages self-testing for early detection

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Tuesday posited that it is too early for authorities to determine the rollout of second booster doses for Guyana – a standpoint that is governed by several factors.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), through a study, has shared that the effectiveness of the booster doses wanes after four months. It has been just a few months since the administration began to give booster doses locally, and 46,609 persons have already taken their shots.
In the COVID-19 update, the Health Minister outlined that work is still continuing to move the uptake of first and second doses higher, as well as increase booster dose uptake. Consequently, a fourth dose is not high on Government’s agenda currently.
“I think it’s too early for us to make (that) determination. We have seen some of the early results that are coming out of Israel, being (one) of the first countries to start administration of the second booster dose. Right now, our efforts are really to make sure that persons who have not been vaccinated…trying to get them vaccinated, and those who are partially vaccinated, for them to get the next shot,” said Dr Anthony.
Vaccination coverage among adults indicates that 428,991 first doses have been taken, representing 83.6 per cent of that demographic; while second doses have been taken by 322,465 persons, or 62.9 per cent of that demographic. As for the 12-to-17 age category, 23,795 persons, or 32.6 per cent of them, are fully vaccinated.
According to the Health Minister, the current booster uptake can be improved.
“The other strategy that we’re working on is those who got both doses to at least get their booster shot. While we have these vaccines available, the challenge is not a lot of people have been coming forward…We’re constantly making that appeal to people to come and get their booster shot. When people get their booster shot, then we would have another issue, which we will consider down the road. The second booster shot, we’re not contemplating that right now, we’re focusing on administering the booster shot after the first two doses.”
Even with evidence that older persons are at higher risk of developing a severe form of the virus, there is a drop in booster uptake among this group. Booster doses can be taken after five months of complete immunisation, and has been recommended, since immunity would wane after some time.

Self-testing
Along with the management of vaccination for the population is the priority to control infections. The Health Minister has touted self-testing as an effective way for persons to know their status, especially those operating in high-risk environments.
“Most of the kits that are available for people to do self-testing are very accurate. It helps persons to know their status, especially people who work in at-risk environments. That’s something that we want to encourage, so that people can test themselves regularly to see whether they have COVID-19…If they tested positive, then they would isolate. That would help us to reduce potentially the people in the population who walk around unknowing that they have COVID-19. This is something that we want to encourage,” he touted during the brief.
President Dr Irfaan Ali had initially announced last month that his government was exploring the use of at-home COVID-19 test kits to prevent gatherings of people at testing sites across the country. (G12)