Govt to set up own oxygen plant amid increase in COVID-19 hospitalisation

With more than half of the COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen, the Government is now moving to set up an oxygen plant at the Infectious Disease Hospital at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown. Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony made this announcement during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update.
As at Wednesday, there were 136 COVID-19 patients hospitalised at various hospitals across Guyana. The majority of them, 91, are being kept at the Liliendaal hospital. The Health Minister has disclosed that 34 of the 91 patients are in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Currently, 16 pregnant women are being treated for the virus; six of them are at the Liliendaal hospital, while the others are at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
According to Dr Anthony, 81 of the 136 COVID-19 patients require oxygen. “The consumption of oxygen is taking a lot of resources from the Ministry,” Dr Anthony pointed out.
In light of this, the Health Minister has said, “We are working to improve our generation of oxygen on-site, and right now we are expecting to have an oxygen plant coming in shortly, that will be set up at the [Infectious Disease Hospital], so that we can self-generate our own oxygen. That would help to reduce the amount of oxygen that we have to purchase on a daily basis.”

Far from herd immunity
Herd immunity, also known as population immunity, is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.
While there has been a large turnout at the Ministry’s vaccination drives, Dr. Anthony noted, Guyana is “far away” from achieving herd immunity. He went on to explain: “Depending on what variant we are dealing with, the percentage of the population that needs to be immunised will go up.”
According to him, some experts believe that, with the Delta strain, close to 90 per cent of a country’s population must be fully immunised to reach herd immunity. Importantly, he pointed out that a challenge in this regard is the fact that no vaccine has been approved for persons below age 11.
“We are hopeful that, in November, the US FDA would approve vaccines in this lower age category. When that is done, we will introduce vaccines for this age group,” he said.
With Guyana extending the Pfizer vaccine to pregnant and lactating women, Dr. Anthony said, “I want to make a special appeal to pregnant women to get vaccinated.”
He noted that international bodies dealing with the approval of COVID-19 vaccines have recommended that pregnant women be vaccinated, because it would protect them from contracting a complicated form of the disease.
The Health Minister added that while pregnant and lactating women can take any of the COVID-19 vaccines available in Guyana, many persons have shown a preference for the Pfizer vaccine. Any of the vaccines, he noted, can be taken at any stage during pregnancy. He added that once lactating women are vaccinated, the antibodies they produce can pass through the breast milk and protect their babies.
Since the rollout of the country’s vaccination campaign in March, 364,208 persons, or 71 percent of Guyana’s adult population, have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Some 215,552 persons, or 42 per cent of the adult population, are fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, 25,356 adolescents, or 34.8 per cent of persons between the ages of 12 and 17, have taken the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, while 13,919 adolescents, or 19.1 percent of that demographic, are fully inoculated.
Moreover, the Health Minister explained that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe for use by cancer patients. He related that some of the most prestigious societies dealing with cancer have recommended that cancer patients be vaccinated, since they are at higher risk of developing serious illness from COVID-19.
Presently, the COVID-19 vaccines available to adults in both the first and second doses are Sinopharm and Pfizer. The latter vaccine is also being administered to children. The Sputnik V and AstraZeneca vaccines are available in the second dose only. (G1)