The Republic of Guyana has received 52,800 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines from Spain as part of a vaccination programme targeted to children.
The doses arrived on 6 June via the Amerijet Cargo at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Georgetown.
The programme has been in development for months and was finally announced by the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, in the last week of May.
The Ministry has communicated that vaccine administrations will commence on 11 June at the drive-thru exercise on the tarmac of the National Culture Centre. This will follow a close collaboration with the Ministry of Education, which will see the rollout of a series of vaccination outreaches at selected schools countrywide.
On site when the doses arrived, Dr. Anthony expressed gratitude to the Government of Spain for their collaboration and added that while most of the confirmed COVID-19 cases to date are adults, one third of the 65,272 cases thus far are among children.
He stressed that vaccination remains the best option to reduce levels of COVID-19 in Guyana.
According to the latest data from the Commonwealth COVID-19 Vaccination Tracker (last updated on 22 April), 363,237 people have been fully vaccinated in Guyana, accounting for only 46 per cent of the total population.
During the latest Commonwealth Health Ministers’ Meeting on 17 May, Secretary-General Scotland highlighted issues of health inequalities across member states. She pointed specifically to the challenge of equally distributing vaccines as more than 40 per cent of people are yet to receive even a single dose in the Commonwealth.
Learn More: Ministry of Health Guyana
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