4,500 people being vaccinated against Covid per day 

– Min. Anthony encourages public to get the jab 

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony has said the COVID-19 vaccination campaign is moving a pace with 52,854 individuals immunised as of Thursday.

The Minister made this statement during Friday’s COVID-19 update. He said an average of 4,500 vaccines are being administered per day at the various sites countrywide. This, he noted, is a significant increase when compared to the first few weeks of the vaccination roll out.

“When we started out, we were doing like about 2,000 then it went up to about 3,000 so now doing up to 4,500 a day is a big improvement and we think that is going to increase as well.”

The Minister said most of the vaccines have to be administered in two doses. As of Thursday, some 60 persons who took the Sinopharm vaccine received their second dose. Dr. Anthony said these individuals would have to wait a period of seven days to be considered fully immunised. “Those who took the AstraZeneca, we are asking them to wait at least for 12 weeks. Those who are now taking the Sputnik vaccine they would have to wait for 28 days and then they’ll get their second dose.”

Meanwhile, the Minister said to facilitate the roll out of the Sputnik V vaccine which arrived here last Friday, medical personnel had to be re-trained in its administration. For this week, he said approximately 2,000 to 2,500 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine have been administered. The second batch of these vaccines are expected here next week.

Meanwhile, Minister Anthony has again called on the public to get their jabs to help protect themselves and their families. He explained that while not everyone will receive the Covid vaccine, enough people have to be immunised to create herd immunity in Guyana.