Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, has said of the 175,000 doses of H1N1 vaccines in Guyana, approximately 85,000 have been used across the country.
And he made clear that the expectation is to have, by September, between 150,000 and 200,000 persons immunized against H1N1.
September, Ramsammy said, is the target date, since it is around this time that the flu season is common in the United States of America and Europe.
Ramsammy noted that it is estimated that 300,000 persons need to be immunized in order to protect Guyanese from local transmission.
He explained that with this number of persons immunized against the novel influenza strain, there will be a reduced possibility of transmission, even if the virus is brought into the country by a foreigner.
He added that, to date, there have been 34 confirmed H1N1 cases in the country.
The H1N1 virus spreads like the seasonal flu and persons are encouraged to adhere to health advisories.
Apart from the H1N1 vaccines, other mechanisms in place to address the H1N1 situation in Guyana include the acquisition of new equipment for testing for H1N1, costing some $8M.
The equipment is installed at the National Public Health Reference Laboratory (NPHRL) and routine testing has commenced.