Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony yesterday stated that the vaccination drive-thru programmes that were held over the weekend went well as over 2,700 persons were inoculated.
This disclosure was made during his daily COVID-19 update where he stated that there was a steady flow of vehicles at both the Guyana National Stadium and the MovieTowne parking lot on Saturday and Sunday.
“On the first day Satur-day we had about 735 persons who came to MovieTowne and at the national stadium we had about 700 persons that came so I think we had a good day”, he said. He added that on Sunday some 694 persons were seen at MovieTowne while 650 were seen at the stadium. To this end he stated that many persons had commented and praised the efficiency of the programme as they were able to go in and get their vaccines quickly.
Meanwhile, he added that nationally some 220,997 persons, accounting for 45.5% of the adult population have so far received their first dose of a vaccine. Approximately 18.1% of persons 18 years and older or 87,919 persons have been fully immunized.
Anthony went on to say, “So I think we are making steady progress and we want the numbers to increase but in some of the regions we weren’t able to do much vaccinations because of challenges with flooding and so forth but nevertheless we are still keeping the vaccination programme going”.
Giving a breakdown of the percentage of persons receiving first doses regionally, it was noted that Region One is now leading with 53.8%, with Region Six following with 53%. Approximately 48.6% of Region Five’s adult population has received a first dose, Region Four 47.2% followed by Region Three with 44.8%, Region Seven 44.1%, Region Nine at 42.5%, Region Two at 42%, Region Eight, 28.5% and Region Ten at 13.6%.
In relation to continuing inoculation in the country, Dr. Anthony stated that the ministry is consulting with other communities to see where they can continue the vaccination drive thru initiative. “We are already looking at a couple of other sites that we think would benefit some of the other communities in Region Four”, he said.
Further, he mentioned that plans are currently ongoing to have a drive thru event next week in Region Three, even as the ministry is also working to have the same done in Regions Two and Six.
