people with chronic non-communicable diseases and healthcare workers among those being targeted to receive flu shot due to their vulnerability. The first shot was administered to several health officials including Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony, who said the Influenza Vaccination Programme augurs well for the country in the fight to combat the flu virus. “Today is indeed a historic day for our country. For the first time in Guyana’s history, we are launching a national influenza vaccination programme. This moment marks a major step forward in strengthening our healthcare system, protecting our most vulnerable and aligning Guyana with the global best practices in disease prevention,” Anthony said. Globally, the flu affects one billion people annually, with approximately three to five million people developing severe respiratory illnesses. Data coming out of the World Health Organization (WHO) also indicate that between 290,000 and 650,000 people die annually as a result of the acute viral respiratory disease.

The world has witnessed the devastating impact of influenza and in the year 1918, there was influenza pandemic, you know like how we had COVID-19 pandemic and you saw how many people, and how many countries were affected, back then in 1918 with the influenza pandemic we had 50 million people dying from this virus. That’s more people dying from this virus than the people who died in World War I. So, sometimes these things while we treat them in a very harmless way, they can have a severe impact, and some of you might be more acquainted with H1N1, that occurred in 2009, but what this is telling us is that influenza can be very, very dangerous,” the health minister said. (Jamaica Gleaner)