Minister Anthony –23 pregnant women hospitalised with Covid 19

Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, has stressed on the call to pregnant women to be vaccinated
against COVID-19.
Dr Anthony said it is very important that the expecting mothers take the vaccine to protect
themselves and unborn child. The health minister made this passionate appeal on Friday. He
noted that more than a third of the 63 persons hospitalised with covid are pregnant women. “Of
the 38 persons that we currently have at the Ocean View Hospital, 23 of them are pregnant
women. So again, I want to appeal to pregnant women, if they haven’t been vaccinated, please
go and get vaccinated because at least if you get Covid, you will have a milder form of it,”
Minister Anthony said.

Dr. Anthony had disclosed earlier that there is enough data showing unvaccinated pregnant
women, infected with Covid, having premature births.   The health minister said that scientists
have agreed that the COVID-19 vaccines will not interfere with the pregnancy. “You can get
them in any one of the trimesters, whether it is the first, second or third. It’s never too late to get
the vaccine. And, even after you would have delivered the baby, if you weren’t vaccinated
during that period, you should still take your vaccine while you’re breastfeeding, because there’s
also additional benefit to the child where the antibodies that you have developed with the vaccine
can pass through the breast milk to the child,” he explained.
Minister Anthony noted that pregnant women should seek to protect their unborn child by being
inoculated against Covid-19. Dr Anthony explained that while he is calling on pregnant women
to be vaccinated, there still remains a huge gap between persons who took the first and second
doses. He said that as of Thursday, 398, 949 adults received the first dose of a COVID vaccine,
while 275, 126 have returned for the second dose. This, he explained that though some persons
may be awaiting their return date to be fully vaccinated, Dr. Anthony said the huge gap is
worrying. “A lot of it is that people would have already received their first dose but they have
not shown up back for their second dose and that’s worrying because if you’re partially
vaccinated, you’re not going to get the benefits of the vaccine,” the minister declared.
Minister Anthony added that Essequibo Islands-West Demerara (Region Three) had the highest
disparity between first and second doses. Some 82.7 per cent of the adult population have
received the first dose of the vaccine, but a mere 44.5 per cent of them returned for the second
shot. This, he said represents a 38.1 per cent gap. Minister Anthony stressed that he is urging all
persons to be vaccinated to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.