By the end of this week, HIV patients would be able to comfortably and discretely get their COVID-19 vaccinations, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony has disclosed. He said that his Ministry is collaborating with the National Care and Treatment Centre to set up a COVID-19 vaccination site to accommodate those patients.
“One of the issues that we have heard is that persons who are HIV positive, did not feel comfortable coming to one of our regular vaccination sites. … We have been working with the National Care and Treatment Centre here in Georgetown, to make that also into a vaccination site, so they should start from this week,” the Minister said during his COVID-19 update today.
The Minister is hopeful that this added measure would encourage HIV patients to get their COVID-19 vaccines, as HIV is a comorbidity that heightens a patient’s chances of being severely affected by the coronavirus.
“We’re hoping to see better uptake of the vaccine among this population…We will be monitoring with other types of patients as well, and we are hoping that we can introduce a similar service for patients with chronic non-communicable diseases and some of the more popular clinics that we have, that we would use these opportunities to talk to people about getting the vaccines.”
