Over 52,000 Guyanese vaccinated
A nurse at the National Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, preparing to administer a dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to a local healthcare worker
A nurse at the National Infectious Diseases Hospital at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, preparing to administer a dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to a local healthcare worker

–another batch of Russian Sputnik V vaccine expected next week

A TOTAL of 52,554 individuals across all regions of Guyana received their first dose of either the Oxford-AstraZeneca, Sinopharm or Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines amid the intensified roll out of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, according to Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony.
During his daily COVID-19 update on Friday, the Health Minister said that Guyana’s vaccination programme, which got underway on February 11, has been progressing well.
“On average, for the last three or four days, we have been doing about 4,500 vaccines per day which is a big increase because when we started, we were doing 2,000 and then 3,000,” the Minister Anthony related. Guyana’s ability to administer more vaccines has been facilitated on two fronts: the first is that the human resource capacity was boosted with the recent deployment of 400 ranks from Guyana Defence Force (GDF), and, secondly, Guyana has been able to secure several consignments of vaccines.
Based on reports at the end of Thursday, Dr. Anthony highlighted that 52,554 persons had received their first jab. He affirmed that this figure was in keeping with the targets set by the Ministry of Health.

Additionally, a small number of persons have started to receive their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccines being used in Guyana are all two-dose vaccines with various dosing schedules. The second dose of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine is given after about 21 days, and the second dose of the Russian Sputnik V is given after about 28 days. Meanwhile, the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is given at about eight to 12 weeks after the first.
Since Guyana has been administering the Sinopharm vaccine for some time now, Dr. Anthony noted that individuals who received this vaccine have begun receiving their second jab. In fact, he said that about 60 persons have already received their second Sinopharm dose.
Those persons who received their second dose would have to wait about seven days before they can be considered to be fully immunised, Dr. Anthony explained.

The Sputnik V vaccine is the newest in Guyana and, as such, it will take some time before the persons vaccinated with this vaccine, and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, receive their second shot. Importantly, the Health Minister noted that another batch of the Sputnik V vaccine is expected next week. The country received 25,000 doses last week.
Recently, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, announced that Guyana will soon receive some 200,000 doses of the Russian made Sputnik V vaccine, through an arrangement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to him, the government will be spending US$20 on each dose of the vaccine; this means that a total of US$4M (or approximately GY $800M) will be spent to secure the 200,000 doses.

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