Dr. Anthony– Vaccination among 12-17 age group still a challenge

Parents are being urged by Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony to get their children vaccinated,
as the nation prepares for the full reopening of schools after the Easter holidays.
Dr. Anthony on Wednesday said that there have been challenges in getting the 12-17 age cohort
vaccinated, despite several measures. “While, we would have had campaigns at some schools
and so forth, we were not able to vaccinate a lot of children, because they did not get permission
from their parents,” the minister said.
Dr. Anthony stressed that while children present with mild symptoms, the vaccine can provide
added protection and is therefore urging parents to ensure their children are fully covered.   “I
really hope that we will see an uptake in this age group,” Dr. Anthony said.
Minister Anthony pointed out that so far only 46.8 per cent of the 12-17 age group has had a first
dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. He noted that of the 18-39 age category, 82.9 per cent took a first
dose, while 59.5 per cent are fully vaccinated. Another six percent has taken a booster shot,
while in the 40-59 age category, 84.2 percent has taken a first dose, 69.9 percent took a second
dose, while only 12.5 percent has taken a booster.
Further, for the 60 and above age category, 84 percent has taken a first dose while 74.6 percent
has had a second dose, 23.8 percent of that age cohort has had a booster shot. The health minister
disclosed that such a percentage is inadequate and appealed to older persons to get their booster
doses.
“Most of these persons that we see coming into the hospital, they have been unvaccinated, and
therefore, one of the things that I really want to urge people to do is to make sure that they are
vaccinated,” Dr. Anthony said.