Guyana ranks high in Caribbean for COVID-19 immunisation

Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony says Guyana’s vaccination campaign against COVID-19 has put the country in a “good position,” ahead of its CARICOM counterparts.

While he did not give a specific ranking, he said Guyana’s efforts to provide vaccines for its people have pushed the nation forward.

“We have been able to acquire more vaccines than just depending on the COVAX facility and that’s why were able to advance our immunisation programme,” Dr. Anthony said during his COVID-19 update on Thursday.

Since most countries in the Region were depending on COVAX for their vaccines, Dr. Anthony said they were unable to immunise a large cross-section of their populations.

In addition to Guyana’s 24,000 doses from COVAX, the Government also received a donation of 80,000 doses of AstraZeneca from India, and 3000 doses from neighbouring Barbados. The People’s Republic of China also donated 20,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to Guyana.

Dr. Anthony said Guyana will, early next week, receive 83,000 more doses of the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia.

“We are moving forward; we are going to get more vaccines. As you know, we have had in country 55,000 doses of the Sputnik V and with this additional 83,000, this is going to help to get more Guyanese immunised,” he said.

The Minister said Guyana’s vaccine uptake has been “quite good.” As of Wednesday, more than 70,000 persons received their first doses.  Once persons have received their second doses, they would be fully immunised against a severe form of Covid.

Vaccination teams are spread out across Guyana ensuring that every section of the population can access vaccines.