Guyana to receive Covid-19 vaccines for 5- to 11-year-olds

Last Updated on Wednesday, 1 June 2022, 7:33 by Writer

Guyana is about to get COVID vaccines for children between five and 11 years old, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony said.

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony said 50,000 doses, which are expected from Spain, would be administered to 25,000 children.

He was optimistic that parents would be willing to allow their their children between 5 and 11 years old to take the jab. “I don’t think that, with 25,000 children, we should have a problem because I have been getting a lot of requests from persons who want to see their children get vaccinated so I think because this is a relatively new category of persons, I don’t anticipate that we would have a problem with uptake,” he told reporters.

With a mere 65,000 booster doses having been already administered, Dr Anthony said “we’re a little bit worried about.” He noted that 66.6 percent of the eligible persons have gotten second doses, an accomplishment he described as “very well.” “Many persons are eligible for boosters and we really want them to come out and take their boosters,” he added.

The health minister said the Sinopharm vaccines would expire in 2023, and a number of other vaccines would expire in September and October, 2022. He said fewer than 1,000 Jannsen’s vaccines are in stock. Dr Anthony said government would be using only Pfizer, Moderna and Sinopharm vaccines.