#COVID19: Almost 14% Of Gabonese Population Vaccinated Against

The percentage of Gabonese vaccinated against the coronavirus as of Wednesday, Nov. 30, stood at 13.64 per cent, officials said.

The little step up in vaccinations comes on the heels of an announcement by the government that Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests would henceforth cost a little higher.

“Even health personnel and members of the forces of law and order, as well as the military who were very reluctant towards the COVID-19 vaccination, are now coming forward to be vaccinated,” a senior health official in the Libreville General Hospital told HumAngle.

“It seems they want to avoid paying the extra cost for the PCR tests and vaccines.”

Another reason given for the increasing number of persons volunteering to have themselves vaccinated is the decision by the government to ease anti-coronavirus vaccination measures for people who have had themselves vaccinated.

According to health authorities, the 13.64 per cent so far vaccinated are those who have received their complete doses out of a total of 181.363 persons who volunteered to be vaccinated.

The percentage of those who have received one dose of the coronavirus vaccines in the country currently stands at 17.86 per cent.

While waiting to tabulate the final figures, the National Committee for Vaccination Against the Covid-19 (COPIVAX) indicates that among those vaccinated, 76 per cent , about 138,074 volunteers, were men, 5.3 per cent or 9,586 persons were aged above 60, 4.8 per cent, about 8,634 persons were hypertensive and 1.4 per cent, about 2,539 persons were diabetic.

COPIVAX revealed that 5,758 of the persons who volunteered to have themselves vaccinated were health personnel representing 3.2 per cent of people vaccinated throughout the national territory.

Defense and security personnel vaccinated numbered 15,774 representing 8.7 per cent of persons vaccinated nation-wide.

The current coronavirus situation in Gabon stands at 37,342 positive cases and 279 deaths.