Only 12.5 per cent of the population have returned for their COVID booster doses, as many persons are yet to take the jab.
Statistics revealed on Tuesday by Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony provided an update on the country’s vaccination campaign, which showed that only 73,375 or 12.5 per cent of persons took their booster shots.
“I think, people ought to get boosted because I think a large group of our population would have received at least a first and second dose. So, the thing now is to ensure that people are boosted. A lot of people who are eligible for boosters have not come back to be boosted,” he underscored.
“If you’re going into gatherings where there is a lot of people, the chances are you might be sitting next to someone who might be infected and you wouldn’t know. It is better for you to ensure that you’re boosted. Vaccines are available for boosters,” the Minister added.
So far, 446,418 or 87 per cent of adults have taken a first dose, while some 346,244 or 67.5 per cent of persons are fully vaccinated.
For adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, 35,687 first doses or 48.9 per cent and 26,181 or 35.9 per cent second doses have been administered.
Vaccination for children in the five to 11 category shows 8125 first doses or eight per cent. Only 3841 or 3.8 per cent have returned for their second shot.
Recently, the Health Ministry piloted its late-night vaccine campaign in Region Four, which has generated a sizeable response. Throughout the first week, some 1490 doses were administered while by the second week, 1603 doses were recorded. The plan is to rollout this initiative next in Region Six.
Late night vaccine is something we have started recently and we have been seeing more people coming out in the evenings to get their vaccination…Because we are seeing a positive uptake in the later hours, we are going to extend this programme from Region Four to Region Six and see whether we have similar results.
New cases
As of Tuesday, the Health Ministry updated its dashboard to reflect 71,209 confirmed cases to date, after 17 more persons were infected.
Seven patients are hospitalised, including five at the Infectious Diseases Hospital. The country’s death toll remains at 1279 and there are zero patients in the Intensive Care Unit.
Meanwhile, seven persons are in institutional isolation, 153 in home isolation and two in institutional quarantine. To date, 69,770 positive cases have recovered while the country has tested 691,491 persons.
Symptoms of the coronavirus include fever, cough, tiredness, diarrhoea, pains, sore throat and loss of taste or smell. The more serious symptoms are difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain and loss of speech or movement.
If anyone is displaying any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 or needs any additional information, they are asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately or visit www.health.gov.gy.
