No more 1st dose AstraZeneca available – Health Minister

…as 36.3 % of adult population fully vaccinated

The Health Ministry has stopped administering the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony said on Wednesday during a COVID-19 update.
Of the more than 200,000 doses of the vaccine Guyana received this year, half was set aside to administer second doses.
“…it is the same vaccine that you use for the first and second doses. We have issued half of the amount as first dose, and we kept back half for the second dose. We have just given out half of what we have as the first dose, and that is why we are no longer giving AstraZeneca as a first dose,” he explained.
The Health Minister added, “If we continue doing the first dose, we won’t have a second dose to give.”

He is urging persons who received the first dose of this vaccine between four and 12 weeks ago to return for their second dose.
Asked whether Guyana would be sourcing more of the AstraZeneca vaccines, the Health Minister disclosed that Government is looking at other vaccines.
“In the pipeline we have a number of vaccines, they include more Pfizer, J&J, and some other vaccines we are looking at,” he said.
Between March and August, Guyana received a steady shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine. In fact, Guyana commenced its COVID-19 immunisation programme with this vaccine back in March.
Presently, the COVID-19 vaccines available to adults in both the first and second doses are Sinopharm and Sputnik V, and the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Meanwhile, the two-dose Pfizer vaccine is being administered to children between the ages of 12 and 17.

Vaccinated
To date, 387,280 persons, or 69.6 per cent of the adult population, have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 185,972, or 36.3 per cent of this demographic, are fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, 23,664 persons, or 32.4 per cent of children between the ages of 12 and 17, have received their first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Moreover, the Health Minister has revealed that since the Infectious Disease Hospital opened its doors last year September, a total of 2338 patients were admitted up to the end of August. Of this number, 2003, or 85.7 per cent, were successfully treated and discharged.
“Unfortunately, we know that, with COVID, we are going to have critically ill patients who would come into the ICU. Some of them are going to die at the hospital, because of varying complications,” the Health Minister has said. (G1)