Health Minister urges vaccination of adolescents before school reopens

As the Education Ministry announce plans to fully reopen schools after the Easter holiday,
Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, has reiterated the importance of adolescent vaccination.
Minister Anthony pointed out that while it is important for children to return to school, there are
still a number of active cases in the country. As such, he noted that getting vaccinated is one way
for them to be protected while at school. “Vaccines are available and it is astonishing that you
have something that can help reduce the severity of COVID and we still have hesitancy where
parents are not allowing their children to come forward and get vaccinated,” Dr. Anthony said.
“So again, one way of returning safety to school is for children to be vaccinated and maybe,
before the reopening, it would be a good time for parents to make sure that their children get
vaccinated,” he continued further. The health minister added that the ministry will continue to
put measures in place to monitor the pandemic here.
Dr. Anthony disclosed that regarding the five to eleven age group, he is urging parents to ensure
their child/ children continue to observe the COVID-19 measures that were instituted before they
were eased, to better protect them against the disease. “We are working to access those vaccines
and once children return to school the idea is that they should wear a mask and do sanitising and
so forth…so we’ll encourage parents to adopt those measures,” minister Anthony said.
The minister declared that the low vaccination rate for adolescents is not “encouraging” as such
he is urging parents to get their children vaccinated. Additionally, he revealed that approximately
15 percent of the total number of cases recorded in Guyana were children under 19-years-old.
As of Tuesday, the ministry has administered 34, 193 or 46.9 percent first dose vaccination to the
12 to 17 age cohort while 24, 832 or 34 percent are now fully vaccinated.