Guyana continues to benefit from free vaccines from the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), a programme that provides free vaccines to 92 countries worldwide.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony said the distribution programme is helping the especially developing countries to meet their vaccination targets.
To date, Guyana has received 305,420 doses of vaccines, which have allowed the vaccination of 152, 710 persons.
“Guyana has always been in the COVAX AMC component which meant that Guyana get its vaccines through COVAX, free of cost. We have been working with them. Initially, when COVAX first started, they were looking at vaccines to all countries participating to about 10 percent of their population, and at that time in the early stages, the priority was to give to older people and to frontline workers,” Dr. Anthony said Tuesday.
The Health Minister said COVAX has since revised those targets to meet the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) mandate of ensuring that at least 40 per cent of countries’ population is fully vaccinated by December this year.
“So, I guess with that in mind COVAX is working to ensure that they can get vaccines to countries so that they can immunise at least 40 percent of their population,” Dr. Anthony said.
“As of Monday, 368, 850 persons received a first dose of a covid vaccine, representing 79.1 per cent of the adult population. Some 225,050 persons or 43.9 percent of the adult population have been fully immunised. Another 25,919 adolescents have received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, while 15,429 have been fully immunised.
Meanwhile, 124 are hospitalised, 88 persons at the Ocean View hospital with about 33 of those persons in the ICU.
There are also hospitalisations in other facilities countrywide; one at the Kumaka District Hospital, four at the Suddie hospital, seven at West Demerara Hospital, three at the Mahaicony Hospital, two in New Amsterdam, one in Skeldon, four in Bartica, one in Mahdia, and six at the Wismar Hospital.
