Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony today disclosed that there has been a decline in the number of persons who are coming out to take their first dose Covid-19 vaccines.
“In almost all the regions we have seen a relatively decline in first dose vaccinations and initially we thought perhaps of the floods people were not coming forward but in some of those areas the flooding has eased up, and we’re still not seeing people coming out,” the Health Minister said.
“So we will do some assessments. We have been talking to the RHOs [Regional Health Officers] in those regions. They have been reporting that people are little more hesitant, so we will have to see what’s driving that hesitancy and then work on maybe demystifying some of the things people have in their minds, so we have to continue working on that.”
To date, 229,846 persons received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, representing 47.2 per cent of the adult population. Second doses are at 103,029 persons or 21.2 per cent.
Dr Anthony noted that with just over 20 per cent of people receiving both doses, Guyana is closer to achieving herd immunity.
“We estimate that we have to get at least 80 per cent of our adult population with both doses, so this is a step in the right direction. We’re now approximately at 21 per cent. We still have a far way to go but I think if we work with people and get them to come and get both doses then Guyana would be much better off.”
