Pregnant women urged to get Covid jab in Guyana
Friday, the Guyana government urged pregnant women to get vaccinated against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic after disclosing that more than a third of the 63 people hospitalized with the virus are pregnant women.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, speaking at the daily COVID-19 Update, told reporters that pregnant women must be vaccinated against the virus to protect themselves and their unborn children.
“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.”
The Health Minister said that enough data shows unvaccinated pregnant women infected with COVID having premature births and 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 an additional benefit to the child where the antibodies that you have developed with the vaccine can pass through the breast milk to the child,” Anthony said.
Figures released here by the health authorities show that 398,949 adults received the first dose of a COVID vaccine, while 275,126 have returned for the second dose, and Anthony said the 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 figures show that Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) had the highest disparity between first and second doses. According to the statistics, 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.
Since the pandemic first surfaced here in March last year, Guyana has recorded 983 deaths and 37,613 positive cases.
0 Comment