The Region Two COVID-19 vaccination programme for adolescents saw strong support yesterday at the rolling out at the Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary School (ARMS).
The drive commenced at 1 pm and saw over 200 adolescents receiving the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Other drives will be held today at the Aurora Primary and Secondary school; Monday, September 6, at Johanna Cecelia Secondary, and Charity Secondary; Tuesday, September 7 at 8th May Secondary; and Wednesday, September 8, at the Kabakaburi Primary. All drives will commence at 9 am daily.
According to the Regional Education Officer, Nicola Matthews, 910 pupils at the Primary level and 3,604 at the Secondary level are eligible. She said that the region has received over 400 signed consent forms so far and other parents opted to register electronically.
Meanwhile, Regional Health Officer Dr Ranjeev Singh informed that the region had received 2,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Yesterday, 200 children attending the ARMS received the vaccines. When Stabroek News visited the secondary school, the Headmaster Lalljeet Rooplall was speaking to the parents, educating them about the vaccines and also when school will be reopened. He said the school has 600 children eligible for the vaccines.
Some of the parents were dissatisfied when told that only 200 children would be vaccinated. Other parents who showed up to uplift a number were told to visit the other vaccination sites with their children. Those parents who took time off from work were very disappointed, however, this newspaper was told that there are sufficient vaccines for the children but because the vaccination drive commenced late, there wasn’t enough time to process the expected amount.
One parent, Shevon Kishore, took her daughter to take her first dose. Kishore said that she is happy that her daughter got the vaccine and as a parent she is happy knowing that her daughter is safe while attending school. Another parent, Tasha Jairam was turned away after she arrived late, she however said she will take her child to the other location.
Another parent Nalini Motilall from Vilvorden said she opted for her son to take the vaccine because she believed that he will be safe when school re-opened. She also said that she desires for school to re-open so that children can go back to face-to-face learning.
