Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony yesterday revealed that the rollout of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine is expected to begin this weekend as the immunisation of healthcare workers across the country continues.
Approximately 10,000 healthcare workers are expected to be vaccinated with the 20,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine donated by the Government of China. The vaccines, where were promised to Guyana in January, arrived on Tuesday.
During the daily COVID-19 update yesterday, Anthony explain-ed that the immediate rollout of the Sinopharm vaccine was delayed as healthcare workers had to be trained on how to administer it. He added that the Ministry also developed some booklets that explain how the vaccine will work, its possible side effects and who is eligible to receive it.
Anthony reiterated that the Sinopharm vaccine is about 79.4% effective, saying that its high rate of efficacy would mean that if someone gets vaccinated it should prevent them from getting the disease but if they do get infected it will reduce the severity of the disease.
He added that several countries have given the vaccine Emergency Use Authorization, including Guy-ana. He further stated that Guyana is very lucky to receive the vaccine as it is in limited stock now that the Chinese government is trying to immunise its entire population.
Approximately 3,000 frontline and healthcare workers have already been vaccinated with their first dose of Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine that was donated to Guyana by Barbados in February.
Anthony has stated that 80,000 more AstraZeneca vaccines, donated by the government of India, are expected on Monday and it is expected that from this batch all remaining healthcare workers will receive their first dose. Immunisation of the persons over 60 years will then commence.
Another batch of vaccines is also expected from the World Health Organisation’s COVAX facility.
