Take AstraZeneca 2nd dose – Health Minister lobbies as expiry date nears

Thousands of second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine would expire at the end of this month, and Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony is again calling on Guyanese who are due to receive the second dose of this vaccine to take same.
Speaking during a recent COVID-19 update, he reminded that AstraZeneca utilises the same regimen for both doses. As such, some vaccines were reserved for the administration of second doses. Since persons have not returned for the shots, they thus have remained unused, and time is winding down.
“What we need to understand is that we have put out a statement that some of our AstraZeneca stock by the end of November would expire if people don’t come and utilise it. The same vaccine that you give as a first dose, you also have to give that vaccine as the second dose.
“What we did when we gave out the first dose is we kept back enough vaccines to give people their second dose,” he clarified.
If the timeline elapses and the jabs remain unused, they would have to be dumped as expired drugs. Dr Anthony is hopeful that the vaccines would all be utilised. The persons who take those second jabs would then be fully immunised.
“If persons weren’t coming to get their second dose, we would have those vaccines on hand. I’m very hopeful that, before the end of November, those persons who require the second dose, that they would be able to come and get their second dose in a timely manner, so that those AstraZeneca vaccines would not expire, and those that need it would actually get the vaccine,” he said.
It has been mandated in the latest Emergency COVID-19 Measures (#24) that a person is only considered ‘fully vaccinated’ two weeks after receiving an approved single-dose vaccine; the second dose of an approved two-dose vaccine; or any mix-and-match combination of approved vaccines administered at least 17 days apart. In Guyana, only the Johnson and Johnson jabs allow a single-dose regimen.
The ‘vaccinated’ status is important in allowing persons access to public services and facilities in Guyana; without it, persons would require a negative PCR test taken within seven days, and an appointment, to access public services and facilities in Guyana.
Latest figures show that over 383,000 persons, or 74.7 per cent of the adult population, have received their first dose of the vaccine, and approximately 47.9 per cent, or more than 245,900 persons who are 18 years and older, are fully immunised.
As it relates to adolescents, some 27,498 children between the ages of 12 and 17 have been administered first doses, of which some 25.2 per cent are fully vaccinated. (G12)