THE announcement by government that vaccination will commence for persons 18 years and over could not be more welcome news as the current administration ramps up the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has taken the lives of over 250 Guyanese and infected over 10,000 of them.
Since assuming office about eight months ago, the Dr Irfaan Ali Administration has adopted a balanced approach in the fight against the pandemic, that is, it has maintained restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus, while ensuring that the wheels of industry remain in operation.
This was a key step in ensuring that in the fight against the novel coronavirus, businesses do not come to a standstill and put a further strain and drain on the economy, which was in a shabby state during the recent 18-month period under the former regime to frustrate and stifle democracy in Guyana.
The emphasis then as it still is now was to ensure adherence to the national COVID-19 guidelines and steadily opening up the economy for business, while awaiting the release of approved vaccines against the deadly virus.

Today, three months after the first batch of 3,000 doses of Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines was donated by Barbados from a consignment it had received from India, Guyana has vaccinated more 70,000 of her citizens in which is probably the most aggressive vaccination campaign in the Region.
Barring a few frontline workers who have chosen not to be vaccinated because of reservations about the vaccines, the thousands of others in the line of duty, spread across the length and breadth of Guyana, have been vaccinated. Health officials have also moved swiftly following the vaccination of frontline workers to the vaccination of citizens 40 years and over throughout the country and within mere weeks have now moved to vaccinate persons 18 years and older.
The rapid administering of the vaccines could be credited to a military-like organised health team which has adopted a multi-stakeholder approach in reaching targeted groups of people in the society.

To date, the government has acquired over 180,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines (Sinopharm, Sputnik V and Oxford AstraZeneca) through purchases and donations from India, China and Russia and seems well on course to vaccinate the entire population before year-end. The aggressive rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is all but one weapon in the government’s arsenal in the fight against the pandemic, which has taken a toll on practically all the productive sectors in Guyana.
Since assuming office, the government has rolled out a $25,000 relief cash grant programme for households; allocated $51 million in grants from the Small Business Bureau (SBB); $20 billion in annualised benefits from the 2020 Emergency Budget measures; $60 billion in annualised benefits from 2021 National Budget measures; $80 million in the 2021 budget for the training of women; given multimillion-dollar COVID-19 relief fund for Amerindian villages; intensified procurement of Personal and Protective Equipment (PPEs) and COVID-19 tests; engaged in countrywide distribution of education booklets; and ease restrictions on businesses and travel to ‘breathe life’ into the economy and particularly ailing sectors.

Coupled with the vaccination programme and the steady opening up of the economy, determined efforts are also being made to charge persons and sanction businesses found to be in breach of the national COVID-19 guidelines. So far, a number of businesses have been shut down and over 200 persons have been charged with COVID-19 breaches. One could only hope that the enforcement of the COVID-19 guidelines is as aggressive as the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
This is necessary and it is instructive to note that as recent as Wednesday, Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Carissa F. Etienne had warned that vaccines alone will not stop current COVID-19 surge. “I cannot stress this enough – for most countries, vaccines are not going to stop this wave of the pandemic. There are simply not enough of them available to protect everyone in the countries at greatest risk,” Dr. Etienne highlighted, pointed out that “we need to stop transmission by any means possible with the tools we have at hand. This will require comprehensive strategies to both accelerate the rollout of vaccines and control the virus using proven public health measures.”
The proven health measures she was referring to include wearing of masks, social distancing and hand hygiene.