Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony yesterday said that at last word 668 healthcare workers have gotten the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and that he is pleased with the response.
The minister made this disclosure during the daily COVID-19 update where he stated that on the first day of vaccinations last Friday, some 318 persons were inoculated while on the second day, around 350 more workers were vaccinated.
Guyana was able to kick off vaccinations following a donation of 3,000 vaccines from Barbados. This donation would fully vaccinate 1500 persons. Georgetown is also expecting 102,000 doses from the COVAX mechanism and China is donating 20,000 doses.
While he noted that he did not have the direct figures for the subsequent vaccination days at the time, Anthony said that a lot of persons came forward to be vaccinated. “A lot of people came forward, they wanted the vaccines and in fact the amount of vaccines we took initially, we ran out because we didn’t cater for so many people coming forward”, Anthony said.
The minister noted that they were able to sort that issue out and ensure that everyone that came forward to be vaccinated was able to receive it. While noting that the authorities are happy with the response of the healthcare workers, he specifically noted that he was pleased that the senior doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation led their teams by example and were vaccinated.
Some of the senior doctors he mentioned include, Dr. Fawcett Jeffrey who is the head of Medical Services at GPHC, Dr. Tracey Bovell who manages the Liliendaal facility and Dr. Mahendra Carpen who is the head of internal medicine at GPHC. He added that a lot of the consultant senior personnel took their vaccines and a number of other doctors wanted the vaccine.
“So I think our challenge very shortly would be that we don’t have enough vaccines for everyone at this point in time, which is a good thing, a good problem to have because our expectations are by the end of the month, we would be receiving thousands of doses of additional vaccines, and that way we would be able to roll out” the health minister stated.
With that he mentioned that they should have enough vaccines to cover at least all healthcare workers and subsequently move to the other population groups.
Meanwhile, when asked if the authorities have so far recorded any adverse reactions or severe side effects to the vaccine, he stated that most of the persons who would have received the vaccines have only experienced the usual side effects which he said include redness or irritation at the site of injection and soreness along with headaches.
“All these are expected. It shows that your body is reacting to the vaccine which means that your immune system is probably working and starting to produce the antibodies that are necessary to fight off COVID”, Anthony noted.
He disclosed that a national committee has been set up to conduct pharmacovigilance which means collecting, detecting and monitoring adverse effects of the vaccine. This committee, he said, will then be able to explain to persons how to resolve adverse effects if they occur.
Anthony reiterated, “So far we have not had any major adverse events, all that we have had is these things that we expect”.
