Health officials have to date inoculated 141 persons in the Amerindian village of Annai, and 118 in Aishalton, as the COVID-19 vaccination campaign continues across Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo (Region Nine).
The region’s COVID-19 response team spent last Wednesday and Thursday in sub-district Annai, and administered vaccines to healthcare workers and people aged 60 years and older. This exercise was done in keeping with the vaccination protocols established by the Ministry of Health and the National COVID-19 Task Force.
Dr. Nial Uthman, Regional Health Officer of Region Nine, told DPI there was no particular challenge in getting persons to take the vaccine. “When we arrived at Annai, we did some additional sensitisation there as some persons were not clear about the age groups to be facilitated, so we explained that. Some of them because of the numbers [ages below 60], we had to turn back. They live in close proximity, but we were able to give 141 persons vaccines in two days,” he said.
A nurse prepares to administer the COVID-19 vaccine in Region Nine. Accommodations were made for teachers who travelled from far-flung villages to get the vaccine. “We had a successful session there, that would include health workers and persons 60 years and over, but we also had some exceptional cases of teachers which we also captured in that batch. We could not turn them away because of the distance they came from and their difficulty with transportation,” Dr. Uthman said.
After Annai, the team visited sub-district Aishalton, situated in the Rupununi savannahs where 118 persons were inoculated, before heading to the community of Sand Creek on Monday and Tuesday. Dr Uthman said with the larger size of the Lethem sub-district, more time has been afforded persons there to get the vaccine, before the other categories of frontline workers and the wider population is vaccinated. The RHO is encouraging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, not only protect themselves, but also their families.
Guyana has so far received donations of vaccines from the Governments of Barbados (3,000), the People’s Republic of China (20,000) and India (80,000). The country is awaiting a consignment of 104,000 vaccines through the COVAX mechanism. It is also expecting another 149,000 doses under a CARICOM-African Union purchase agreement. President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali also announced that Guyana has ordered 200,000 doses of the Sputnik vaccine and would be expecting its first shipment of 50,000 doses soon. After the first shipment, the Government expects to receive another 50,000 every two weeks until it has received the amount ordered. (DPI)
