Minister Manickchand makes a plea to Region Five residents and teachers to be vaccinated against COVID-19

The Honourable Minister of Education Priya Manickchand today made a plea to residents and particularly teachers of Region Five to go receive their COVID-19 vaccine. Minister Manickchand made this plea during the rollout of the Government of Guyana’s 20,000 Scholarship Programme at the Novar Primary School and the Lachmansingh Primary School.

“The science in the world tells us that you are safer with the vaccine than without the vaccine. It is more beneficial to take the vaccine. When you get the vaccine, if you get COVID you are unlikely to end up in the hospital or die,” Minister Manickchand explained as she urged persons to embrace COVID-19 vaccination.

“So, I’m asking you all to go out and take the vaccine. It’s a voluntary process but I’m urging you to take it,” she continued.

Minister Manickchand urged the teachers that if they still have doubts about being vaccinated, they should read the literature on the topic and research the science behind it to be better informed.

She said that before vaccines were available in Guyana, teachers and Guyanese generally could have said that its unavailability was their reason for not being vaccinated. However, she noted that this is not an excuse now and warned that there may come a time when vaccines are not available.

She said that at some point, sooner rather than later, schools will re-open requiring teachers to turn out to school who may not want to expose themselves and family when they return home.

Further, the Education Minister said that currently many countries are making it a requirement that persons entering must be vaccinated prior. “We will only be as protected as the person next to us. We can’t reopen schools and UG if we don’t take the vaccination number to a certain point,” Minister Manickchand remarked.

She encouraged persons to visit the vaccination sites in the region and take their vaccines to be protected against the serious effects of COVID-19 and protect their loved ones.