VACCINATION RATE SLOWS AS CAYMAN INCHES TOWARDS TARGET

The latest update from Chief Medical Officer Dr John Lee on the ongoing vaccination campaign shows a marked slowdown in vaccination rates across most age groups in the past month.

The Cayman Islands Government (CIG) has set a target of 80 per cent vaccination for fully opening the borders to international travel with an initial ‘soft opening’ by September 9th and mid-October as the next level, except for cruise ship calls.

The CMO reports that,“There have been 99,065 COVID-19 vaccinations given in total in the Cayman Islands. Of these, 50,607 (71 per cent of 71,106) have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 48,458 (68 per cent) have completed the two-dose course.”

The percentages of those having had their first vaccination dose are males 51 per cent and females 49 per cent.

A break down by age group shows the biggest response in those in the 12 - 17 age group in the period between July 11th and August 10th when the rate jumped from 37 per cent to 61 per cent..

On the other hand the adult age range showed little change especially for persons in the age group 18 to 29 where the statistics suggest that no one took the COVID-19 between in the period under review, with the number unchanged at 69 per cent.

A similar trend is noticed in the other age groups approved for the vaccine.

Among persons aged between 30 and 39 years old, there was only a further three per cent getting vaccinated between July 10th and this past Wednesday August 11th - moving slightly from 83 per cent to 87 per cent.

There was also just a four per cent increase for those aged 40 to 49 and 50 to 59 years old, going from 83 per cent to 87 per cent and 86 per cent to 90 per cent respectively.

The vaccination rate for persons over 60 years of age also moved up by four per centage points from 88 per cent in July to 92 per cent by this past Wednesday.

While the vaccination rate has clearly slowed, the government has announced a second phase of an intensified - and incentivised - vaccination drive with considerable input from the private sector to get Cayman across the vaccination target of 80 per cent of persons receiving two doses.

That presently stands at 68 per cent.

Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Lee, reports that 330 COVID-19 tests have been carried out since this was last reported on Tuesday, 10 August 2021. There was one positive test result, in a traveller.