In light of a recent warning by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) urging Health Ministries in the region not to use the current Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for the 5 to 11 age cohort, Guyana’s Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony has reassured that government is awaiting the specialised Pfizer dose to immunise this young age group.
During Friday’s COVID-19 update, Dr. Anthony explained that the warning from CARPHA is to advise countries to not dilute and administer the adult dosage of the Pfizer vaccines to 11 to 5 age cohort.
“So, I think the essence of CARPHA’s warning so to speak is really to alert countries not to use the adult dose and dilute, but instead try and wait until you can have access to the vaccine manufactured for this age group,” the minister noted.
According to Dr Anthony, the Health Ministry has been working through CARICOM (Caribbean Community) to acquire the “tailored” Pfizer vaccines that were specially formulated by the company for the 5 to 11 age group.
“The vaccine that is for 11 to 5, it is about one-third the dose that an adult would receive and therefore it requires special arrangements, the dosage and all of that. So, the manufacturer, Pfizer, has packaged it in such a way to make sure that there is precision in the dosing and the things that you need to mix the vaccines with, so when you administer that it’s quite safe [for children],” he explained.
The Health Minister went onto add that once the adequate formulated vaccines are acquired, the Ministry will rollout vaccination of that age cohort.
“Right now, because we don’t have those types of vaccines, we are not able to give to children between 11 to 5 any vaccine, what we have for vaccines for persons 12 years and older.”
“So, we will wait until we can get those specialize doses before we have a program to administer vaccines between the ages 11 to 5,” Minister Anthony added.
In a statement last Wednesday, CARPHA Executive Director, Dr. Joy St. John, said “Errors in administration of fractionated doses can make vaccination of children aged 5-11 years with adult vaccines a risky practice. We are awaiting the WHO Emergency Use Listing before we recommend use of the U. S. FDA approved vaccine developed specifically for children 5-11 years of age.”
Guyana started vaccination of the 12 to 17 age group in September 2021 and to date, over 20,000 adolescents have been fully immunised.
In his update on Friday, Dr Anthony disclosed that some 45.3 per cent of the targeted adolescents have received a first dose, while 32.4 per cent have gotten their second shots. This cohort is not yet qualified for booster shots, which are being administered six months after receiving the second dose.
