Health Minister reveals that 5-11 age group vaccination for begins next week

The Health Minister has announced that the vaccination of children ages 5 to 11 against COVID-19 is expected to be rolled out in the coming week. The ministry said that Guyana is expecting a shipment of 25, 000 doses of the Pfizer – BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for this age group on Monday.

Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony is appealing to parents to ensure their children are inoculated. “These are special formulation, these are not the regular vaccines, that we have been giving, this is a special vaccine made by Pfizer specially for this age category,” the minister said.

Dr. Anthony revealed that the World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier this year, recommended extending the use of a smaller dose of the Pfizer – BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5 to 11.

The minister noted that the recommended dosage for the younger population is 10 micrograms instead of 30 micrograms given to adults. Minister Anthony disclosed that with the limited supply of vaccines, parents should take every opportunity to take the jab.

“When we start rolling this out, we will have enough vaccines for 25,000 children in the first tranche of vaccines that we would be giving,” Dr. Anthony said. The health minister pointed out that vaccines will be administered at the regular vaccination sites across the country, as well as drive- throughs.

Minister Anthony assured that the vaccines have been approved by all regulatory bodies. “We have been quite fortunate that one of our partner countries, Spain, has willingly agreed to donate these vaccines to Guyana, and that’s why we would be one of the first countries in this region to be able to access the vaccine, and to use the vaccine,” Dr. Anthony explained.

Meanwhile, the minister stressed that persons are urged to continue wearing masks as it is a proven way of preventing the spread of the virus. “As it is right now, I think a lot of people have become very complacent and they don’t want to wear masks, but while a lot of people have stopped wearing masks, what we are seeing is an increase in cases,” minister Anthony related.

Dr. Anthony pointed out that there were 100 new cases of Covid-19 recorded in the past 24 hours taking the total number of infections to 873 cases. The health minister said that the current Covid-19 infection numbers could be underestimated, since persons who have the disease may think they have the common flu.

He argued that there are currently 27 persons hospitalised with the Covid-19 virus. Dr. Anthony added that the number consists of persons with underlying conditions, or older persons, however, there are also persons with only primary doses of a vaccine and no boosters.