SINCE there have been requests for parliamentarians to take the COVID-19 vaccines, Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony says that interested MPs will receive their vaccines during the current rollout of the immunisation programme.

On Sunday, 80,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines were received from India, while 20,000 Sinopharm vaccines were received from China last week. These 100,000 doses, which will be used to vaccinate 50,000 persons since the vaccines are given in two doses, marks a larger vaccination rollout.

And as part of this rollout, on Monday, the Health Minister highlighted, “We have had some requests for parliamentarians to take the vaccine, and we are going to consider that during this current round, because there are not many parliamentarians, and we think that we’d be able to cover them.”

He, however, said subsequently, “Those parliamentarians who would be interested in getting their vaccines, we’ll make those vaccines available in this round.”

Previously, Guyana had received a smaller tranche of 3,000 doses from Barbados, and began its vaccination rollout by immunising the most at-risk population, these being its frontline healthcare workers. Many persons, however, have been hesitant to take these vaccines, since they were concerned about the short period over which these vaccines were developed (less than one year), what side effects they may have, and how long into the future immunity would last.

Additionally, many persons on social media have been calling for Guyanese government ministers to take the vaccines first, so that the population would be able to trust the safety and effectiveness of them.

Previously, Minister Anthony had noted that he would not take the vaccines as yet, since he is not considered a frontline worker, and is not exposed to such a high degree of risk. He has, however, given the assurance that the vaccines are safe, and effective tools to help prevent persons from becoming infected with the more severe forms of the novel coronavirus.

“Both vaccines are very effective, and we are going to distribute it to all the regions, so that people would be able to get them,” he underscored on Monday.