THE remaining 12,000 doses of the 100,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines arrived on Saturday morning at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), via a Caribbean Airlines flight, according to Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ministry of Health, Shabana Shaw.

The Government of China made an initial donation of 20,000 doses of this vaccine earlier in the year, as Guyana got its COVID-19 vaccination rollout campaign underway. After that donation, the government opted to procure an additional 100,000 of the Sinopharm vaccines after it was engaged by the Chinese Government.

On Tuesday last, 88,000 Sinopharm vaccines out of the shipment arrived at the CJIA. Importantly, these vaccines are being purchased for US$15 per dose. Additionally, these Sinopharm vaccines are administered in two doses and as such, a total of 50,000 people can become immunised against COVID-19 with these 100,000 doses. This vaccine, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), has an efficacy of about 79 per cent against symptomatic infection from SAR-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease COVID-19.

During one of his daily COVID- 19 updates last week, Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony noted that the local health authorities will continue to use the existing dosing interval for the sinopharm vaccines; that is, the second dose shall be given four weeks after the first dose is administered.

He also assured members of the public that 50,000 of the Sinopharm vaccines will be placed into storage, so that the second dose can be given to the individuals who received the first dose four weeks after they receive the first.

Importantly, Dr. Anthony indicated that these vaccines are suitable for distribution in remote areas that have limited cold storage facilities to facilitate easy distribution of the Sputnik V vaccine or other vaccines that require cold storage.

“These vaccines are much easier to handle, because, basically, you can store down between two to eight degrees Celsius, unlike the other vaccines that we’ve been working with, which require very cool temperatures. So, in some of the more remote areas, our core chain already caters for vaccines, and therefore this will certainly help,” Minister Anthony said.

On Friday, the Ministry of Health reported that a total of 234, 255 people, or about 48 per cent of the targeted adult population, received at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines so far. Meanwhile, 112,371 people, or about 23.1 per cent of the targeted population, received both doses of their COVID-19 vaccines. Two weeks after persons receive their second dose, they are considered fully immunised. The targeted population is about 500,000 adults.

Meanwhile, Minister Anthony said the vaccination campaign is resuming in remote hinterland villages which were inaccessible for a few weeks due to flooding. The minister encouraged all adults to take the COVID-19 vaccine to push Guyana closer to achieving herd immunity.

Herd immunity will occur, once about 80 per cent of the population is immune to the disease. Vaccination is a way of ensuring immunisation.