Ministry of Health Urges Vaccination Amidst Recent Spike in COVID-19 Cases

While recent COVID-19 cases have not led to hospitalizations, the Ministry of Health and Wellness continues to remind persons that being vaccinated aids in minimalizing COVID-19-related issues. The ministry’s vaccine campaign was revamped on two occasions and aimed to immunize seventy percent of the population to achieve what is known as herd immunity. However, the ministry was only able to reach a little over half of the population. Today, the Director of Public Health and Wellness, Dr. Melissa Diaz Musa, was asked if the country’s vaccination rate is concerning given the recent spike in COVID-9 cases in the USA.

Dr. Melissa Diaz, Director of Health Services*: “The definition of herd immunity does not necessarily mean only immunity that you have received through a vaccine. So we definitely that’s difficult to make a blanket statement to say that we haven’t. We do have immunity of course in country and we’ve been able to ensure that we have vaccinated fully at least 50% of our population and even more so a significantly high percentage of our population of the elderly have already been vaccinated with their primary two series as well as receiving boosters in addition to the primary two series. So just to talk a little bit about the vaccines as a part of our immunizations. Now we have the COVID vaccine. We still do have bivalent COVID vaccines that are to expire soon so it’s just to make that announcement as well that these vaccines are still available at our health facilities for persons to uptake because we’re seeing the fluctuations and in some districts a slight increase in acute respiratory illnesses.”