Constant vaccine supply determines changing age requirements – Health Minister

COVID-19 vaccination

…making vaccine available to every adult only way to come out of pandemic

Guyana – like many counties in the world – has begun rolling out its vaccination programme targeting the most vulnerable – frontline workers and health workers. Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony has indicated that for Guyana to lower the age requirements to access the vaccine, there has to be a constant supply for the continuation of the exercise.

The Government’s vaccination programme targets frontline workers, health workers and the elderly mainly because they are considered to be the most at risk.
The Minister said that the above 60 age requirement is linked to the fact that those persons are more at risk and an assessment of the fatality trend showed that older persons are falling victim to the virus.
“We thought that it is important that we immunise our older population because once they get the vaccine, even if they get infected with COVID-19 they will get a milder form of the disease. So, we thought this is important and that is why we have prioritised it. By the data that we have we know that older persons would make up somewhere between 60,000 to 65,000 persons in the population so once we have completed this age group then we will go to other age groups. So, then we will lower it to maybe 50 and above and then we will drop it to 40 and above and so forth,” he related.

Adequate supply
Dr Anthony added that the challenge is to ensure that the country has an adequate supply of vaccines and they have been working to ensure that the flow of vaccines is constant. He informed that they are also expecting some vaccines through the COVAX mechanism and once that arrives there will be a reassessment of position.
“I am happy that people are responding well because the only way we can exit this pandemic is by most of the adults in Guyana should get immunised. So, at some point, everyone will receive their vaccine but we just want to do it in this order so we can protect the most vulnerable first,” the Minister related.
The Minister also used the opportunity to dispel a lot of the rumours surrounding the vaccines. He said that the AstraZeneca vaccine is being rolled out to millions of people in the world and nothing like this has been reported.
“Of course, with any medication, any vaccine, we have to constantly monitor to see if there is any complication being developed…I just want people to understand that the protective effects of these vaccines outweigh whatever little side effects that you would get when the vaccines are being administered and those side effects are really a little bit pain in your arm, a little bit fever but after a couple of hours that is gone and your immune system would start developing antibodies that would protect you from the COVID and I think that is what is important,” he noted.
In relation to the Sinopharm vaccines also being administered in Guyana, Dr Anthony said that it was administered to millions of people in the Middle East, China and parts of South America with no reported detrimental side effects.
Explaining how vaccines work, the Health Minister related that vaccines are made by taking small or tiny parts of the virus and incorporating it in the injections in an effort to stimulate the immune system.
“Vaccines protect people. We have seen vaccines and how they work with children. Every year we are immunising our children. We are giving out now 18 types of vaccines or antigens to protect children from 18 types of diseases and it has been working because we don’t see those types of diseases in Guyana and it is the same with COVID once you take your vaccine you would be protected.
“None of the vaccine that are available to fight COVID is using a live virus. Vaccines are made by taking small or tiny parts of the virus and you incorporate it into the vaccine so that your body react to that little part – that tiny part – and that’s how you are able to stimulate the immune system. All the vaccines that are available would mimic a tiny part of the virus but that tiny part of the virus cannot give anyone an infection because that is how it is designed. So, vaccines would provoke your immune system to work and produce antibodies so that it fights off this disease without giving you the COVID infection,” the Health Minister explained.
Just on Saturday, President Dr Irfaan Ali said that his Government is in discussions with AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sputnik V, Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, the United Arab Emirates, India for COVAXIN, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the African Union and the COVAX mechanism for the provision of vaccines.
Thus far, Guyana has received 80,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India and 20,000 doses of Sinopharm from the Government of China. Additionally, Barbados donated 3000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine – from what was donated to them by India. (G2)