Local healthcare professionals coursed on Pfizer vaccine

THE HEALTH MINISTRY RECENTLY HELD A TWO-DAY WORKSHOP TO
SENSITISE HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS on the Pfizer vaccine, one of about half a
dozen vaccines currently used to treat the highly contagious and deadly COVID-19.
The health ministry held the two-day workshop at the Regency Hotel on Hadfield Street,
Georgetown attracted more than 30 healthcare workers which also included nurses at all levels
from the 10 administrative regions making up Guyana.
Nurses have the most vaccine-hesitant of healthcare workers, and the government has decided to
lockout the unvaccinated, demand they show regular proof they have not contracted the deadly
and contagious virus and will consider them “absent” when they do not show up for work, even
if they are locked out when they do.

Nursing Officer within the Ministry of Health, Maternal and Child Health Department, Shonette
Jonas, was the chief facilitator of the ministry’s initiative. She said the recently-concluded event
was “a refresher” to a similar one held earlier in the year.
“We are educating the healthcare workers on the administration of the Pfizer vaccines. Some of
the participants include staff nurse, public health nurses, nursing assistants and other nurses,”
Jonas said.
She believes the public will benefit indirectly from insights gained by her colleagues from the
refresher training, especially current anxieties raised in relation to vaccination of children from
12-years old as a prerequisite for reopening of schools early next month.
“We are educating the health workers so that they can…have a smooth…roll out on August 30 th .
When they get into the fields before administering the vaccines, they are expected to clarify any
myths or concerns that parents or the children may have before they do administer the vaccines
as healthcare workers,” Jonas explained.
Vaccine myths abound in Guyana, Nurse Jonas observes.

“One of the myths out there is that when the child takes the vaccine it will create blood cloths.
We are instilling the appropriate knowledge and education into participants to clarify these
myths to ensure that parents and children become comfortable with the vaccination process,” she
said.
The local health ministry is working with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the
local office of the hemispheric Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the global World
Health Organisation (WHO) to help Guyanese concerns about the age limits with and the Pfizer
vaccine.
Said Jonas, “We are starting off with those specific age group 12 years old to age 18 years old
and then we are going to see how it goes from there. Relating to any foreseen challenges I do
believe that there will be some considering the many myths that are circulating within the
general public and these can pose some challenges in ensuring that the children get their
vaccines.”
“However, we are hoping that our coverage will be high once we start the roll out of the
vaccine,” nurse Jonas said.