Twenty-five thousand doses of Russia’s Sputnik-5 COVID-19 vaccine arrived today at the CJIA, Timehri, according to the Department of Public Information.
In a statement today, the Ministry of Health said this shipment will be used to provide 25,000 Guyanese with their first vaccine dose against COVID-19.
Guyana has now received a total of 152,000 doses of vaccines, as follows:
• 3,000 doses from Barbados (from a donation made by India to Barbados)
• 20,000 doses from China
• 80,000 doses from India
• 24,000 doses from COVAX
• 25,000 doses procured from the UAE (via Russia)
Guyana has donated 5,000 doses of vaccines back to Barbados. Guyana therefore has a total of 147,000 doses of vaccines for the immediate rollout across Guyana.
“With 147,000 doses, we expect to vaccinate 86,000 persons with first doses and 61,000 of these persons with both their first and second doses. This is a massive undertaking, but the rollout so far has demonstrated that Guyana can and will succeed in vaccinating all persons aged 18 and older.
Thus far, we have focused the vaccination programme on the following groups:
• Health workers
• Persons 60 years and older
• Persons 40 years to 59 years
“So far, the COVID-19 vaccination rollout has administered 39,831 doses of vaccines. During next week, by the end of April 10, the accelerated MOH’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout will reach, at least, 40,000 persons, with the target being a total of 80,000 Guyanese having received their first doses of vaccines. This is an incredible achievement in an environment where developing countries have had little to no access to COVID-19 vaccines. More than 30 countries have had no access to even a single dose of vaccines as yet. Dozens of countries have only received enough vaccines for less than one percent of their population.
“Over the next several days and in the coming weeks, Guyana will pursue access to an even larger amount of vaccines. The President and the Vice President have been aggressively pursuing COVID-19 vaccine procurement from all possible legitimate sources. As they have assured the nation, the Government is determined to ensure everyone is vaccinated in 2021”, the statement said.
It added that the Minister of Health is leading the effort to ensure that as soon as Guyana receives vaccines, those vaccines are dispensed at the community level. “The rollout will ramp up from Tuesday April 6. There will be almost 100 fixed-sites around the country. There will also be mobile teams in all ten regions. In addition to these sites, there are special sites. Among these are special sites organized through a collaboration between religious leaders. The CIOG has been a leading player in this initiative. Banks DIH has organized a site that will be activated this week. These efforts assist the MOH in mobilization and we encourage others to help mobilize our sisters and brothers in a similar way.
“The MOH is urging local government bodies, such as the NDCs, and religious leaders, such as Pastors, Pandits and Imams to encourage people in the communities to take their vaccines. We urge political leaders to take an active role in promoting COVID-19 vaccination. Further, we urge everyone to be responsible. For those persons promoting conspiracy theories, we ask them to desist”, the statement added.
