Cold Storage for COVID-19 Vaccine to be constructed at Bamia Health Centre

Guyana receives first batch of COVID-19 vaccines

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health announced, that Guyana received the first 3000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines which arrived at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport. The first batch came as a donation from Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley.

The Region 10 Department of Health will be constructing a cold storage facility at the newly commissioned Bamia Health Centre to facilitate the storage of the COVID-19 Vaccine. This was disclosed by Regional Health Officer Dr. Gregory Harris, at the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), Statutory Meeting last Thursday.

During the Tuesday COVID-19 update, Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony, disclosed that Guyana is one step closer to accessing COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX mechanism with the approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine by the US Independent Advisory Committee.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has already been approved and is currently in use in the United Kingdom, in several European countries and India.

The Guyana Government is also in talks with India and Russia to acquire more vaccines for the population.

“There are other manufacturers of vaccines which include India, and we have had some bilateral discussions with them. They required some documentation, some documentation has been sent, and we are now awaiting a formal response from the Government of India pertaining to the documents that we have sent. We are also talking to Russia, manufacturer of the Sputnik V vaccine,” the Minister said.

In addition to the 104, 000 vaccines through COVAX, Guyana is also set to benefit from a donation of 20,000 does of the Sinopharm vaccine from the Government of China. Further, the Government is brokering an arrangement through the CARICOM-African Union to purchase at least 140,000 doses of a Covid vaccine.

As the COVAX mechanism gears up to release the vaccines, Minister Anthony said all the required documentation from Guyana has been submitted to ensure the process flows smoothly. 

Frontline workers, the elderly and persons with co-morbidities are among those set to benefit from the first batch of vaccines Guyana receives.