GEORGETOWN, Guyana – On Monday Guyana said there will be no exceptions for persons awaiting their second dose of a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine wanting to enter public buildings insisting that there is no shortage of vaccines in the country.
Locals in Guyana wait to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations. © UNHCR/Katherine AgueroThe Ministry of Health in its latest COVID-19 emergency measures for the month of November, reiterated that only fully vaccinated people will be allowed to enter public buildings.
According to the measures, any person who is not fully vaccinated and wishes to enter a public building, he or she must make an appointment and present a negative molecular biological test result taken within seven days of the appointment.
The policy states that a person is only considered fully vaccinated 14 days after receiving the second dose of a COVID vaccine. With this new measure, persons who took one dose and are awaiting their second dose will be barred from entering a public building without an appointment and negative test result.
Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, speaking at the daily COVID-19 update, noted that there is no shortage of vaccines in Guyana and people are free to visit any of the Ministry of Health’s vaccination sites and get protection from the pandemic that has claimed the lives of 913 and infected 35, 548 since March last year.
“I think people had a long time to get themselves in order and what we have noticed from the data that a lot of people came, they took the first dose, and they didn’t come back for a second dose, and a lot of time has elapsed between the first and second doses.
“If you only have one dose of the vaccine, it’s not going to be adequate to get full protection and that is why this measure is necessary, so that people get both doses of a two-dose vaccine,” he said.
Figures released here show that 382, 177 adults have taken the first dose and 244, 322 of that number have taken the second dose, resulting in 47.6 per cent of the adult population in Guyana being fully vaccinated.
The authorities also announced that 52 people who tested positive for COVID-19 are currently hospitalized with 33 of them at the Infectious Disease Hospital and 13 n the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“As such, persons are being encouraged to take the vaccine that will not prevent contracting the virus, but will prevent an individual from contracting the severe form of the disease which oftentimes leads to death,” the Ministry of Health said.
The Health Minister said that the US made Pfizer vaccine is now available to anyone, age 12 years and older.
“As of this week, we are going to open up the use of the Pfizer to anyone who would like to get the Pfizer vaccine,” he said, noting that since many people had been requesting that vaccine, he hopes the rest of the unvaccinated population would come forward and take the jab.
He said also that Guyana is already making preparations for the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine to children 5-11 years.
“We have started some amount of training of our staff, because this particular age group requires a vaccine that is 1/3 of the current dose that we are giving. We have started that training, we are expecting that during this week, we will complete that training.”
