The African Union, a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa, will be making a contribution of vaccines to the Caribbean region, in which Guyana will acquire an additional 149,000 doses to immunise its population.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony told the National Assembly on Thursday that this arrangement was brokered through the Caribbean Community, paving the way for 1.5 million doses to be donated to the region.
He was at the time responding to questions from the opposition bench.
“CARICOM has brokered an arrangement with the African Union. They have set aside 1.5 million doses of vaccines for the Caribbean. Out of that allotment, Guyana’s total is going to be 149,000 doses,” he said.
The COVAX mechanism has already indicated that 104,000 vaccines from AstraZeneca will be sent to Guyana shortly.
Some 20,000 will also be donated through the Chinese Government. These doses are produced by Sinopharm.
Dr Anthony said talks are continuing with manufacturers of the various vaccines, in order to acquire more doses.
It is understood that health workers will be immunized first when the vaccines are allotted to Guyana.
The COVAX mechanism has already pledged to donate vaccines to cover 20 percent of the population.
