Children are at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus and now that schools are closed, parents are asked to take their children to the vaccination sites to get protected.
Authorities have been aiming to up the vaccination numbers for the children population, after recording a slothful uptake.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony shared during the COVID-19 update that vaccination sites remain active now that schools are closed.
“Now that school is closed, they can come to one of the vaccination sites and get their children vaccinated,” he shared.
He debunked the myth that children are not affected by the coronavirus. Statistics have shown that in Guyana, several children have died after being infected while many were hospitalised. It is recommended that minors with underlying illnesses take the vaccine since they are at higher risk of developing a severe form of COVID.
“There is a myth that has been going around that children really don’t get COVID and if they do, it won’t be severe. That is really a myth because for some children, they can get severe infections and we’ve had on occasions, children coming into the hospital. Those particular children were vulnerable because they had other underlying illnesses.”
The Health Minister expressed that with the support of parents, the country’s vaccination of children in the five to 11 age group can move beyond the current mark. As of now, only about 4000 children have taken their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, with some 200 returning for the second shot.
“If we have closer collaboration with parents, we can get much more vaccinations done…We can do much better than that but we require the collaboration of parents because we cannot go and administer vaccination to a child without parental consent. There’s an opportunity here because we should really encourage the parents to bring their children to be vaccinated.”
Guyana has enough vaccines to immunise the younger age groups. The United States has also committed to delivering vaccines for everyone to be vaccinated, as well as boosted.
The World Health Organisation has published data, indicating that if children with mild or no symptoms transmit the disease, they may act as drivers of transmission within their communities.
“Understanding symptoms, infectivity and patterns of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in children and adolescents is essential for developing, adapting and improving control measures for COVID-19 across all ages,” the agency had stated.
After schools were opened fully a few months ago, both the Health and Education Ministries were collaborating to get children immunised. However, there were challenges relating to the consent forms, which parents need to sign before the vaccine can be administered.
