–157,797 receive first dose of vaccines, authorities say

APPROXIMATELY 157,797 persons within Guyana have already received their first dose of one of the three (Oxford-AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sputnik V) COVID-19 vaccines, according to Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony.
He made this disclosure during his COVID-19 update with the Department of Public Information (DPI) on Tuesday, May 11.
While the number appears to be an impressive one to some, Anthony highlighted that the number still represents only a small proportion of the Guyanese population.
“The figure would approximate to about 32.4 per cent of the adult population, so it means, really, that we still have a far way to go, if we are going to get to herd immunity,” he related.
Based on information from the Ministry of Health, some 13,010 persons 18 years and above have received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, making them fully immunised against the disease, COVID-19.

“Those 13,010 persons can be considered to be fully immunised. That’s a process we have to continue; to make sure that we get those who received the first dose, to get them to take their second dose,” Minister Anthony said.
On Monday, the Ministry of Health received a shipment of 38,400 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX facility, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.
The shipment was the second delivery from the facility to Guyana, and added to the 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which were received on March 29, 2021.

Guyana had also received 20,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine as a donation from China, 80,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca as a donation from India, and 3,000 doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine from Barbados, which was part of a donation from the Government of India.
Guyana still has more vaccines to receive from the COVAX facility, which is a global inter-organisational effort geared at promoting vaccine equity. Initially, Guyana was promised 100,800 vaccine doses. The country is expected to receive an additional 38,400 vaccines through the COVAX facility by the end of May.
“We are expecting additional doses, and hopefully we can get that sooner rather than later, because there is a momentum with the vaccination process. As fast as we can get that, we’d certainly want to roll that out, so that people can get their vaccines,” Minister Anthony said.