200,000 doses of COVID vaccines before the end of March – Health Minister

For several weeks, the government has been in several bi-lateral negotiations for COVID-19 vaccines and these are expected to bear fruit this month.

With 3000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine already received as a donation from Barbados, Guyana is set to receive an additional 200,000 doses of COVID – 19 vaccines before the end of March 2021.

Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony announced on Monday that the first of 20,000 of the Sinopharm vaccine will arrive on Tuesday from China.

By March 8, 2021 Guyana will receive another 80,000 doses of the Oxford – AstraZeneca vaccines from India, the Minister also announced.

But there is more; before the end of March, Guyana will also receive some 100,000 doses through the COVAX facility with the World Health Organization (WHO) approving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Guyana is also set to receive another 149,000 through the CARICOM/ African Union agreement. Dr. Anthony did not announce when this batch will arrive.

On February 10, 2021, Barbados donated 3000 doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to Guyana.

The country has not exhausted that donation with just about 1852 frontline workers vaccinated to date. The vaccine should be for some 1, 500 persons with two doses per individual.