Approximately 46.9% of Guyana’s adult population has so far received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine with the health minister noting that the country has an open policy in its vaccination programme.
These remarks were made during Dr Frank Anthony’s daily COVID-19 update where he informed that some 228,337 persons have so far received their first-dose vaccine while 99,764 persons have been fully immunised, accounting for 20.5% of the country’s adult population.
The minister noted that even though there are approximately 100 sites in operation on a daily basis, authorities have noticed a decline in some areas, but suggested that in some cases, it might be due to the flooding that has occurred in some of the regions.
Looking at a regional breakdown of first-doses administered, Region One is still in the lead having administered shots to 57.7% of its population. Region Two is currently at 43%, Region Three at 46.4%, Region Four at 48.5%, Region Five at 49.7%, Region Six at 54.7%, Region Seven at 45.8%, Region Eight at 31.1%, Region Nine at 45.4% and Region Ten at 14.2%.
Meanwhile, Anthony emphasised that the country has an open policy for its vaccination programme.
“We have basically an open policy so we don’t check to see which nationality you are before you can get a vaccine” he said. The minister disclosed that a letter had been received from Caribbean Airlines asking whether authorities here would be able to assist in inoculating their staff to which he agreed.
He also mentioned that to be able to achieve herd immunity, persons who are resident here should be vaccinated. “So if they reside in Guyana then we don’t have a problem giving them the vaccine.”
