Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony on Friday urged persons who are due to receive their second dose of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to get their shots.
There is a four-week interval between the administration of the first and second doses and Anthony said the period had elapsed for a number of persons who have not turned up to get their second doses.
“We want to appeal to persons who have received their Sinopharm vaccines to come and get vaccinated or you won’t get the full benefits of the vaccine,” he said.
Guyana has been using three vaccines, the AstraZeneca, Sputnik V and Sinopharm.
Regarding the Sputnik V, Anthony reiterated that the ministry has been advised that persons can receive their second dose anytime between 4 and 12 weeks after their first dose and that if vaccination is delayed as long as possible the antibodies will last longer in the immune system.
His comment came just over a week after the ministry disclosed that there were no more second doses of the vaccine in the country and that supplies were being awaited. Anthony last week said that supplies were expected this week. He said yesterday that more vaccines are expected this month.
Meanwhile, from statistics available on Friday morning, Anthony said 207,889 persons in Guyana had received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The figure represents 42.2% of the Guyanese adult population. Speaking during his daily COVID-19 update, Anthony said 73,471 persons, which accounts for 15% of the adult population, have received both doses of their COVID-19 vaccine, making them fully vaccinated.
Anthony added that the government is still working to procure more vaccine supplies and it is expecting shipments of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine through the CARICOM-African Union agreement, AstraZeneca through the COVAX facility and Sputnik V from Russia sometime this month. He stressed that there will be enough vaccines to for the adult population.
Asked whether the government has plans to vaccinate children, Anthony said that this will not be considered unless data from clinical trials reveals that it is safe to vaccinate children with the COVID-19 vaccine currently available.
“We know this is safe and effective in adults, so we have to ensure that our adult population is vaccinated so that we can reach herd immunity,” he said.
