The 34,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines that were received on Monday are expected to be used mostly in hinterland areas.
This was revealed by Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony during his COVID-19 update yesterday where he stated that the single-dose vaccine will be sent to communities that are hard to reach. Guyana was able to purchase the Johnson & Johnson vaccines through an arrangement between CARICOM and the African Union.
One dose of the vaccine constitutes full immunization.
The Health Minister had said on Monday that it took some time to work out the logistics to receive the vaccines however they will be rolled out in hinterland communities. This vaccine, he noted, can be easily stored in Guyana’s existing cold chain system and as such would be easy to work with in certain communities.
“It is a single dose and because of the characteristics of the vaccine, it can be easily stored between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius. It makes it much easier to work with especially in hard-to-reach communities,” Anthony stated during the update.
Further, he mentioned that sending those vaccines out across the hinterland will expand vaccination coverage and assist with some of the challenges that they have been experiencing so far.
He said, “One of the challenges has been when we give a first dose in those communities is going back into the community, finding the people because people move, so by giving this single-dose vaccine at least we know that people would be protected.”
When asked if the vaccine will be made available in the coastal regions he noted that it will be but in a very limited way as the focus for the single-shot vaccine would be the hard-to-reach communities.
