COVID-19 vaccination ongoing in Region Nine, despite floods

Ministry of Health, Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony has said the COVID-19 vaccination campaign is still ongoing in Region Nine, despite the seasonal flooding there.

The Minister said due to the floods, the medical teams on the ground now have to perform “double duty” to manage Covid and treat any instance of water-borne illnesses.

“With flooding, you have water sources that can become contaminated, we can see possibly, if people are not taking precautions, diarrhoeal diseases, so our health team in the different health posts and so are on the lookout for this but despite all these challenges, they are still rolling out vaccination.”

Recently, the Ministry conducted a vaccination exercise in Fairview, where more than 90 persons received a COVID-19 vaccine.

Additionally, this week, the Ministry will deploy three mobile vaccination teams across the Rupununi to continue the campaign in the Region.

Since the roll out of its vaccination campaign in March, the Ministry has ramped up its efforts to ensure every adult is immunised.

To date, 184,394 persons have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. This represents approximately 37.9 per cent of Guyana’s adult population. Also, some 54,681 persons received their second doses, reflecting 11.2 per cent of the adult population now fully immunised.

The COVID-19 vaccines being used locally are the Russian Sputnik V, the Chinese Sinopharm and the Oxford-AstraZeneca. Persons are encouraged to do their part and take the jab as the country looks to achieve herd immunity.