Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony has said health authorities are likely to administer COVID-19 vaccines in four phases.
During his COVID-19 update yesterday, Anthony stated that it is envisioned that the first phase itself would be done in four parts – part ‘A’ targeting healthcare workers, part ‘B’ targeting seniors, part ‘C’ focusing on persons with comorbidities and part ‘D,’ which would cater to other essential workers like teachers.
He clarified that seniors refer to persons 60 and above.
“Second phase we are looking at persons 50 years and above and in this second phase we can include also the joint services and then we go to the third phase where we will take anybody 18 years and above. And in that way we will be able to cover substantially all the persons who we need to get immunized” the minister said.
He mentioned that they have envisaged a fourth phase of inoculation which would focus on immunising children against the virus. However, he noted that none of the vaccines that have been approved are currently available to children. He said he anticipates that in another six months, the results of clinical trials with children would be known and pronouncements can be made by global regulatory bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO).
Meanwhile, with Guyana recently receiving 100,000 vaccines, Anthony noted that there have been some requests for parliamentarians to be vaccinated from the available tranche and he said it is under consideration.
“We are going to consider that during this current round, because there are not many parliamentarians and we think we would be able to cover them,” he said before later adding that those members of parliament who would be interested in getting the vaccines will be facilitated.
