Region Seven has seen a steep decline in COVID-19 cases and its Chairman, Kenneth Williams believes that this is due to more persons getting vaccinated against the virus.
The region currently has only seven active COVID-19 cases.
Williams told Stabroek News that although there is still some amount of vaccine hesitancy in the Region, the steep drop in cases can be attributed to the rising vaccination number. He related that over 11,000 persons in the Region would need to get vaccinated for herd immunity to be achieved and as of yesterday 8,747 persons had received a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Chairman said that the Regional Democratic Council along with the Regional Health Team has undertaken an aggressive COVID-19 vaccination campaign. In hopes of achieving regional herd immunity by September 1st, 2021, the team has adopted a house-to-house vaccination drive, which sees officials and healthcare workers personally visiting homes every weekend to provide details on the vaccines to families so as to convince them to get the jab.
Since the implementation of this particular drive, Williams said, they have noticed that the vaccinations numbers have begun soaring. “We have been taking the time to explain to persons about the vaccines and why they should take it and we have found that after these conversations people are more open to get vaccinated,” he said.
To further encourage persons to get vaccinated, Williams said, they have also opened up more vaccine sites so persons can have easy access no matter the location. He commented that while the Region currently has a low number of active cases, they are aware this can change and the situation can take a turn for the worse, hence their aggressive vaccination campaign.
Thus far 29 persons who were infected with the virus have died in the Region.
Regarding the persons hesitant in getting vaccinated, Williams said, this is found mostly in the indigenous communities. He applauded the Ministry of Health initiative to retain the services of a translator to translate Covid-19 vaccination messages in the indigenous languages.
“So, to reach people and to get over these messages the Ministry has been able to hire someone who translated messages pertaining to the vaccination, the importance of vaccination, the safety of vaccines in all of the indigenous languages. And we have been playing these as PSA’s on the various radio stations,” Dr. Anthony said during yesterday’s COVID-19 update.
Williams pointed out that the step that the Ministry has taken is very crucial especially considering that the Indigenous Peoples speak their own languages, apart from English. “I think that is a bold and excellent move and because in my region where we have so many communities where English is not the first language, it’s good to hear that this and we are hoping this will help people to come aware about eh benefits of the vaccine,” he said.
He disclosed that residents in the Upper Mazaruni communities such as Jawalla and Waramadong are very hesitant to take the vaccine. In Bartica, he said, young adults are the ones who seem more hesitant to take the vaccine but after having conversations with them, they usually would be ready to get the jab. He added that he hopes that Region Seven will be among the first to achieve herd immunity so that they can return to some sort of normalcy.
The Region has enough supplies of vaccine to achieve their September goal even as some are still awaiting their second dose of sputnik, Williams said.
