–Education Minister affirms, as Guyana receives 146,250 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

WITH the new academic year slated for September 06, 2021, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, has affirmed that the government has no intention of barring unvaccinated students, ages 12 to 18 years, from entering schools. The Education Minister clarified any misconceptions related to the vaccination of students while speaking at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), where she, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, and other senior government officials, gathered on Tuesday to receive 146,250 doses of the American-manufactured Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. This specific vaccine is earmarked for children ages 12 to 18 years. The Pfizer vaccine, on Monday, became the first COVID-19 vaccine to receive the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. The batch of Pfizer vaccine given to Guyana is part of a donation of 5.5 million doses from the United States Government to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). This donation is intended to lend support to the ongoing battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Health had informed the Education Ministry that in order to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, all students, ages 12 to 18 years, should be vaccinated before returning to the classrooms. Minister Manickchand said that while parents could choose whether they want their children to be vaccinated, the inoculation is the best defence against the deadly effects of the COVID-19 virus. Even so, she reiterated that unvaccinated children would not be barred from entering the classrooms.
“The government is not making the vaccination of children a precondition of school; we are, however, encouraging parents to give that consent. Philosophically, we don’t think the school doors should ever be closed to anyone who wants to walk through them but that’s a philosophy that’s good for when everything is perfect. We are not at a perfect place right now, but we have not said and we are not saying at this stage that unvaccinated children, if they want to access education, will be disallowed from doing so,” Minister Manickchand stated. The minister related that consent forms were sent to parents of over 50,000 students in secondary schools. Up to Tuesday, the ministry received over 4,000 forms with parents giving their consent to have their children inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine.

NOT JUST FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN
Although the target group for this process is children who will be returning to school, Minister Manickchand said that it is not limited to them, as all children, ages 12 to 18 years, who obtain permission from their parents or legal guardians, would be able to receive the vaccine. “This is not a vaccine only for school children, it is a vaccine that will be administered by the Ministry of Health to any child between the ages of 12 and 18, regardless of if they are in school or which school they are in,” Minister Manickchand said. The minister noted, too, that while children ages 12 and under are not yet able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, this will not put a halt on the reopening of primary schools on September 06. She said that each school had been given the option by the Ministry of Education to formulate specific timetables that would best complement their individual circumstances and enable them to maximise their schools’ resources. So far, the ministry has received plans from schools for rotational teaching methods and mixed online in-person sessions that would allow for students to have some face-to-face teaching after a significant period of time away from a physical classroom.

ACCESS TO ALL
Working simultaneously with the Ministry of Education to prepare for the reopening of schools, is the Ministry of Health, which, according to subject minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, has already put measures in place to transport the vaccine to children who reside on the coastland and those in hinterland communities.
“While we have, centrally, the ultra-cold storage, we have special containers in which we can move the vaccine out to different areas and, when we are doing that, we ensure that we have enough dry ice that would maintain that temperature range and we get it to the various areas that we need to do the vaccination,” Minister Anthony explained. The Health Minister said that while the first batch of the Pfizer vaccine received by the government is only being administered to children ages 12 to 18 years, clinical trials are currently ongoing in the United States to determine the effects of the vaccine on children, 12 years and under.
Minister Anthony spoke of the importance of vaccination and achieving herd immunity not just to reopening schools and returning to normalcy, but also to protect the lives of all citizens in the country, inclusive of children.

“For children between the ages of 5 to 12, right now, there are clinical trials in the U.S. and the data from those clinical trials are expected by mid of next month, and once that becomes available, the FDA will probably approve the emergency use authorisation for children between those ages. “There are also studies that are ongoing for ages five to babies, and those results we’ll probably know them by January. But once those results are out, we will be able to follow the signs,” Minister Anthony said. Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Guyana, Mark Cullinane, expressed the U.S. government’s pride to assist Guyana in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Outside of the provision of vaccines, the U.S., he said, has offered significant financial support to the cause.

“Aside from the doses of vaccines, we have also donated $4 million in COVID-19 assistance to the Eastern Caribbean, including $1.3 million in donations to Guyana for its efforts to address the COVID-19 virus,” Cullinane said. Locally, the government has been rolling out an aggressive COVID-19 vaccination programme that sees anyone above the age of 18 years having the opportunity to receive a vaccine to be protected against the virus.
Currently, government is offering first and second doses of the Russian-produced Sputnik V vaccine; the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine; and the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine.