Persons 18 years and older receiving Covid vaccines from today
Advisor to the Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy says persons ages 18 years and older can get immunised against COVID-19 from today.
Advisor Ramsammy made this announcement in a post on his Facebook account on Thursday.
Dr Ramsammy said: “Guyana is blessed we have a President and a Vice President that are willing and courageous in making difficult decisions on behalf of our people and our country.
The decision they took today for us to move to vaccinating everyone 18 years and older against COVID-19 is bold and progressive. The President and VP promised they would work for everyone to be vaccinated. This proves they were serious.”
Dr. Ramsammy said at a time when 31 countries have not yet had any vaccinations, Guyana is expanding inoculation.
“Guyana is moving towards universal vaccination. It’s a massive undertaking. But our young President and our young and experienced VP are not afraid to take difficult decisions. It is the reason why we are among the top countries among developing countries when it comes to the rate of vaccination,” he said.
Vaccination teams have spread out countywide, so that every section of the population can benefit. As of Wednesday, over 70,000 persons have been inoculated with their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Ramsammy also gave assurances that every person who has received his or her first dose of vaccine will be given their second dose, ensuring that they are fully immunised against contracting a severe form of Covid.
Guyana started its COVID-19 immunisation campaign mid-February after receiving a donation of 103,000 vaccines total from the Governments of Barbados, the People’s Republic of China and India.
Guyana also, to date, received a batch of 24,000 vaccines through the COVAX facility, and 55,000 Sputnik V vaccines from a total of 200,000 doses that it procured from Russia. Meanwhile, the administration continues to take steps to obtain more vaccines. Guyana is also awaiting another shipment of vaccines through the COVAX facility, as well as another quota from the batch it purchased from Russia.