COVID-19 vaccines for persons 40 years and older from today

The Ministry of Health on Wednesday began administering the COVID-19 vaccine to persons who are 40 years and older. According to Advisor to the Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, the healthcare professionals have also started administering second doses of the vaccine.

In a Facebook post, Dr. Ramsammy disclosed that “We have vaccinated 33000 persons so far with first dose…I expect in excess of 5000 persons getting their first dose today.”

Guyana earlier this week received 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the WHO’s COVAX facility. Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony on Tuesday said more vaccines will be sent to Guyana through this mechanism once they become available.

The Government had received 80,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine of which it administered 40,000 with the remainder to be used for second doses in the coming weeks. Similarly, Dr. Anthony said 10,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccines received from China were released of the 20,000 doses in stock to allow for the second jabs.

“It has gone very well. In every region we have teams operating and people are coming forward to get their vaccines,” he said.

The Government has also purchased 200,000 does of the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia at a cost of 800 million at $4,000 per dose.

Guyana is also looking to secure another 149,000 doses of vaccines through a purchase agreement under a CARICOM-African Union pact. Added to that, another 200,000 doses of the Sputnik vaccines from Russia are being procured.

Since March 11, 2020, Guyana has recorded 10,192 cases of COVID-19 with 8998 recoveries.

In recent weeks, the death toll has been increasing and now stands at 231. The latest fatalities –a 59 year old man and  76 year old woman –were reported on Monday.