More than 22 per cent of adult population fully immunised against COVID-19

Minister of Health Hon. Dr Frank Anthony says more than 22 per cent of the country’s adult population has been fully immunised against COVID-19.

He was speaking during today’s COVID-19 update.

“As of yesterday, we have 233,134 persons who would have received their first dose of one of the COVID-19 vaccines that would amount to 47.9 per cent of our adult population. And for those who would have received second dose vaccines we have 108,752 persons. That is accounting for 22.3 per cent of our adult population.”

In Region One, 59.9 per cent of persons have received their first dose, Region Two 43.7 per cent, Region Three 47.1 per cent, Region Four 49.4 per cent, Region Five 50.4 per cent, Region Six 56.1 per cent, Region Seven 47.9 per cent, Region Eight 32.7 per cent, Region Nine 46.3 per cent and Region Ten 14.6 percent.

Minister Anthony said while the vaccine uptake in the regions has been positive, Region Eight and Ten are still lagging. During the COVID-19 update on Tuesday, he noted that hesitancy, particularly in Region Ten, is due to the Opposition’s negative comments about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.

“We are working to counter the negativity caused by the Opposition and to still encourage people to dispel whatever myths they have and come out and get vaccinated,” he said.

He had noted that more ground work is being done to dispel the myths and rumours surrounding the vaccines.

The Health Ministry has embarked on a house-to-house vaccination campaign, where health teams are meeting with villagers to address their concerns.

“In Region One we have taken the house-to-house approach now. In Region Ten, we’ve had similar exercises with some obstacles but we are pushing through and in Region Nine, we are doing the same thing going village to village trying to get more people vaccinated.”

Additionally, the Health Minister encouraged persons to take their jabs.

“With first dose, we still have approximately 253,000 persons more that we’re aiming to vaccinate. So, we still have a long way to go, so I want to encourage people to come out and get their vaccines we now have, as you know, the Sputnik first dose. We also have AstraZeneca first dose and the second dose, and we now have Sinopharm, which is for both first and second doses.”

Individuals 18 years and older are advised to visit any of the Ministry’s COVID-19 vaccination sites to receive their vaccines.