Since the roll out of Government’s COVID-19 immunisation campaign for adolescents, some 18,299 children ages 12 to 17 have received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
During Monday’s COVID-19 update, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, said this represents 25.1 per cent of the population in that age group.
Region One – 385 or 14.3 per cent of the adolescents have received their first dose; 1,134 persons or 24.8 per cent in Region Two; 2,939 persons or 27.9 per cent in Region Three; Region Four, 7,354 or 24.2 per cent; 1,340 or 27.5 per cent in Region Five; 3,209 or 30 percent in Region Six; 342 or 19.1 per cent in Region Seven; Region Eight recorded six or 0.6 per cent; Region Nine, 57.6 per cent of the adolescent population or 1,364; and Region Ten, 226 or 5.8 per cent of that population.
The health minister said the campaign was just rolled out in Region Eight, which would explain the low vaccination numbers recorded.
Minister Anthony added that the Government is hoping to immunise the adolescent population as quickly as possible.
“It all depends on how many persons are coming in, if people are not going to be coming in fast enough, then the period will be protracted so we want to advise parents to make sure that they bring their children out to get vaccinated. There are two requirements. One is that you have to show proof of age, so that you’re between the ages of 12 to 17, and also to get parental consent. So, once we have those two things, we’ll be able to vaccinate your child.” Guyana received 146,250 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the United States Government for the immunisation of the adolescent population here. The Pfizer vaccine donation is part of a larger donation of 5.5 million doses to CARICOM.
