Ministries collaborating on COVID-19 vaccine campaign for children – Dr Anthony

The Ministries of Health and Education are collaborating on rolling out the COVID-19 immunisation campaign for children, even as preparations are advancing for the September reopening of schools.

Dr. Anthony made this disclosure during his COVID-19 update.  

The Minister said consent would be sought from parents before children between the ages of 12 and 18 are vaccinated using the United States of America, FDA approved Pfizer vaccine.

“We need permission from the parents. We have started sending out letters to parents, and they will have to sign those letters and send them back with the child, so that we know whether or not we can vaccinate the child.

“So that’s a very important component of this programme because the persons under 18 cannot decide for themselves, their parents will have to give the clearance. We will be using different modalities to make sure children who are in school can get access to the vaccine.”

Dr. Anthony noted that the vaccines will also be accessible at community health centres to youths of the same age group, who are not in the school system.

On the arrival of the consignment of vaccines through the COVAX facility Friday, PAHO/WHO Representative to Guyana, Dr. Luis Codina said Guyana is expecting 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccines in September. Guyana also received a quantity of Sputnik V vaccines it purchased, Friday.

Meanwhile, Minister Anthony has said Guyana has enough vaccines for the entire adult population and he urged the public to inoculate themselves against the deadly disease.

To date, 282,586 persons, or 55 per cent of the adult population, have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 146,500 persons, or 30.1 per cent of the adult population, are fully immunised.