Just around half of Region Six’s adult population has received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, according to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony, who says Region Eight and Region Ten continue to lag behind in their vaccination uptake numbers.
This disclosure was made on Thursday during COVID-19 update, where he stated that there are stark differences across the regions as it relates to vaccination numbers. “We have differences across the regions and in Region One, for example, they have been able to accomplish close to 46.6% of their population,” he said.
The minister then listed the regions and their percentages as it relates to first doses: Region Two (40.3%), Region Three (42.6%), Region Four (43.2%), Region Five (46.5%), Region Six (50.2%), Region Seven (42.3%), Region Eight (27.5%), Region Nine (40.5%) and Region Ten (12.4%).
He said Region Six has met a milestone with the coverage of its population. “We still have a long way to go but it’s good to at least mark these significant milestones”, Dr. Anthony said.
Meanwhile he added that Regions Eight and Ten are still outliers and noted that there is still quite a lot of work to be done in these regions. Anthony reiterated that the persistent challenge with Region Ten continues to be vaccine hesitancy. He added that one of the challenges that the authorities are experiencing now in Region Eight would be the ongoing flooding even as the geographical outlay of the region has been a challenge prior to the flooding.
“It’s quite mountainous, so in normal times it’s difficult to reach some communities and this now has been compounded with the rains,” he said.
