Appeal to religious leaders to be advocates for Covid vaccination

The Health Ministry has taken its three days ‘Vaccine Hesitancy Workshop’ to Region Two, as
there has been a low record of vaccination there as they seek to address the issue of vaccine
hesitancy.
Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, speaking at the opening of the workshop on Monday, said
just about 67.7 percent of the region’s adult population took the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine
and 53 percent are fully vaccinated. Dr. Minister made an appeal to religious leaders to advocate
for more vaccination in the region. He disclosed that since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the
government has been able to procure six different Covid-19 vaccines for Guyana’s eligible
population.
Dr. Anthony pointed out that even with this effort the country is still facing the issue of vaccine
hesitancy, mainly due to misinformation from social media and influential persons in
communities across Guyana. “I really want you to become advocates for us, to be able to talk to
other religious leaders in the community to get them on board…[because] by what they say, they
have become some of the main instruments in preventing people from getting the
vaccine,” minister Anthony told participants.
The health minister noted that Region Two, at one time was leading in the vaccination effort and
was seen as an inspiration to other regions to get their populations inoculated, now it is
challenging to get persons vaccinated because of false information circulating in the region.
“Sometimes when you hear the things that people say, you know it should give us pause to think
whether this is making sense or not and if it’s not then we should be able to help to dispel those
types of myths,” Dr. Anthony said.
The minister pointed out that 59 deaths have been recorded in Region Two, with most of those
persons being unvaccinated. “When we look at the stats, one of the things it is showing us is that
most of those people have been unvaccinated so perhaps if they were vaccinated these would’ve
been preventable deaths,” he said.
Meanwhile, United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah Ann-Lynch during her remarks told
participants that they will be playing an important role in passing on factual information
concerning the vaccines, noting that vaccine hesitancy is one of the major barriers to the country
returning to normalcy. “Armed with the knowledge gained from this workshop your work will be
instrumental, very important to helping people overcome their fears and their concerns
surrounding vaccines hesitancy through information grounded in science, grounded in facts,”
Ambassador Lynch said.
The US Ambassador stressed that the United States will continue to partner with the Health
Ministry and UNICEF to bring awareness about the Covid-19 vaccines. Local Government and
Regional Development Minidster, Nigel Dharamlall, Director of Primary Health Care Services,
Dr. Ertenisa Hamilton and UNICEF Deputy Representative, Guyana and Suriname, Irfan Akhtar
were also present.