The rollout of the recently acquired Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines began yesterday with Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony and several senior ministry officials being among the first to get their dose of the vaccine.
Twenty-five thousand doses of the Sputnik V vaccines arrived in Guyana last Friday. According to Anthony, the vaccine needs to be stored at a particular temperature so extra training was done with healthcare workers on how the vaccine should be administered. This has since wrapped up and the teams were deployed to regions across Guyana.
The Minister along with Advisor Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and Perma-nent Secretary Malcom Watkins yesterday received their first dose of the vaccine. After receiving his first dose, Anthony stress-ed on the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19, saying that even if a person gets infected after being vaccinated they will only have a mild form of the disease as this is the primary purpose of COVID-19 vaccines. He noted that all the vaccines were tested on thousands of persons during clinical trials and are now being administered on millions more and there have been very few reports of major side effects, which proves that the vaccines are safe.
He also stated that getting vaccinated can reduce deaths and hospitalization, while noting that in countries where there are high immunization rates, the death toll and hospitalisations have dropped.
“These vaccines make a difference,” he said as he urged all persons age 40 and older to get vaccinated. He said that healthcare workers are doing a wonderful job at vaccination sites by providing persons with information about the vaccines and making them feel at ease while administering them
Addressing his refusal to get vaccinated as soon as a COVID-19 vaccine became available in Guyana, Anthony said he wanted all frontline workers to be the first to get immunised and he decided to get vaccinated because Guyana now has enough vaccines with more on the way.
“The time is right and I have been getting some requests because people feel that I am hesitant to get a vaccine and I want to dispel that myth to make sure that people can see that I have gotten the vaccine and if that has prevented them from getting the vaccine they can come onboard and get theirs,” he said.
Despite the availability of COVID-19 vaccines, Anthony said challenges still remain, especially regarding people’s decision on whether they should get vaccinated. However, he said, more and more persons infected with COVID-19 in Guyana are requiring hospitalisation and ICU care, while reemphasizing on the importance of getting vaccinated.
“We have also seen that we are now getting a large number of persons in the ICU and as of today (yesterday) there are 14 persons in the ICU. We will lose some of them but if we take vaccines early enough we can prevent this so I want to urge people if you have [the] opportunity to get vaccinated, get your vaccine because it can protect you,” he said.
He added that not all persons in the healthcare or 60 years and older categories have been vaccinated and while immunisation has opened to persons 40 and over they can still get vaccinated if they wish. Anthony remains hopeful that the ministry can achieve its goal of vaccinating 40,000 persons this week but noted that this is dependent on the people and if they chose to get vaccinated.
He revealed that 400 persons from the Guyana Defence Force have been assigned to assist with the vaccination process and this will speed up the process.
Meanwhile, Anthony said that persons who have been inoculated with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine will soon be eligible to receive their second dose of the vaccine and advised that they check their vaccination card. The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine is also available in Guyana and is being used to inoculate persons in the 60 years and over category.
The efficacy of the vaccines increases after the second dose.
