Ministry of Health launches vaccination campaign targeted to children 5 – 11 years

Parents of children ages 5-11 years, on Saturday took the opportunity to get their children vaccinated, as the Ministry of Health began its vaccination campaign for children in this age cohort.

Guyana, on June 6 received a shipment of 52,800 doses of specially formulated Pfizer vaccines for children, ages 5-11 years old, a donation from the Government of Spain.

In a walk – in, drive- through exercise at the National Cultural Centre tarmac on Saturday June 11, parents brought their children to get vaxxed.

Several parents also shared their sentiments.

“My two daughters are here, Emma and Ella, they are both vaccinated, everything went really well, the whole process is well coordinated, said Aubrey John.

I want to be part of ensuring that the population is safe in that I know I’m fully vaccinated, and if I have the opportunity of having my children vaccinated, I know if they were to get Covid, they will recover faster,” she added.

Another parent, Deryck Persaud who took his two children to get vaccinated noted that it is an international requirement, and urged parents to follow the guidance of the Ministry of Health.

“We would want to encourage everyone living in this wonderful land of ours to ensure their children are vaccinated, so use the opportunity, it’s free, you don’t have to pay for it and you need to come out and do what is best,” Persaud said.

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, noted that based on the response to this shipment of vaccines, the government has a backup plan in place to access another 60, 000 doses.  He noted that permission slips will be given out to schools through a collaboration with the Ministry of Education, and schools with a larger percentage of parents agreeing to have their children vaccinated will be visited.