People with a bed for COVID-19 vaccine at home – Dr Anthony

As the Government continues to aggressively roll out the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony revealed that people in bed for whatever reason can also be put in place for immunization against the virus.
During his latest daily update on the COVID-19 situation in Guyana, Minister Anthony said that relatives and / or carers of such individuals, who could not reach the vaccination sites, could contract the Regional Health Officers (RHOs) in their spouses regions. to arrange for the vaccine to be given.
“We will certainly be able to work out a way of taking the vaccines to them. We have been able to do the ones we have already known, but I’m sure there are many more [who are bedridden] and from the Ministry side, we are always ready to help in this regard, ”Dr Anthony said in his Wednesday update.
Further, he went on to reveal that Guyana had reached a milestone in its vaccination exercise with more than 100,000 people having received their first COVID-19 shot. This achievement was recorded on Tuesday – some 10 days before the anticipated April 30 deadline that the Ministry was hoping to reach this milestone.
According to the Health Minister, this could not have been done without the hard work of the vaccination teams across the country.
“We have exceeded 100,000 doses… This is all over Guyana. We’ve had people come out and our people going into villages. So, I think the health workers who have been on this vaccination campaign have done an amazing job in achieving this milestone. I want to commend them for the job they have done so far, ”he said.
The Health Minister noted that while this significant milestone had been achieved, there was still much to be done to ensure that all adults in Guyana, including foreign nationals living and working here, were vaccinated in order to obtain herd immunity.
“Whoever is in Guyana, once you are an adult, you will get a vaccine. So that’s what we’re working on because herd immunity cannot be guaranteed by excluding people … So, migrants who are here would definitely get vaccines. Other nationals here working in different organizations, once they are here for a long time, we will also be able to give them vaccines, ”Dr Anthony stressed.
Guyana introduced its COVID-19 vaccination campaign in February and in addition to the more than 100,000 people who received their first dose, hundreds of people have also received their second doses.
Last Friday, the Government extended the vaccination exercise to people aged 18 and over. Since then, scores of young people have been flocking vaccination sites across the country for immunization.
To date, Guyana has received 3000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from Barbados, another 80,000 doses of the same injection from India and 20,000 doses of Sinopharm from China – all donations.
Subsequently, the country collected its first tranche of COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility – 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca and another batch is expected to arrive next month.
Further, the Government has purchased 200,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia up to about US $ 4 million, through the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Guyana has already received about 138,000 doses of the Russian-made injection with the latest batch of 83,000 doses arriving on Monday.
With these vaccines, the Government of Guyana hopes to vaccinate about 300,000 people with both doses by the end of July. The country is expected to find additional COVID-19 injections to achieve this.
To this end, Dr Anthony has repeated calls for people to be vaccinated.
“I want to appeal to everyone to get their vaccines because while it doesn’t stop the infection, it would reduce the severity of the disease that is important, so you wouldn’t end up in hospital, you wouldn’t be in the ICU in the eventually. (Intensive Care Unit) and you would not die from COVID. So that’s a very important thing. So get your vaccine and we can help reduce the hospitalization and deaths we’ve been having from this disease, ”said the Health Minister.
Dr Anthony explained during Wednesday’s update that Guyana has, at present, secured enough shots for its vaccination program. However, he noted that the country continues to maintain relationships with other countries and manufacturers of COVID-19 injections so if the need arose for more vaccines, then those sources could be tapped.
One such source is India, says the Health Minister.
India’s High Commissioner for Guyana, Dr KJ Srinivasa had told Guyana Times last month that Guyana was in talks with his country to acquire COVAXIN – an indigenous injection. He had stated that while Guyana’s total need is 400,000 doses, the manufacturer, Bharat Biotech, processes orders for only 100,000. (G8)