Drive-thru vaccination at MovieTowne, National Stadium this weekend

Guyana recently received additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccines and Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, says there will be two additional drive-thru vaccination events this weekend to help get more people vaccinated –  at the MovieTowne Guyana at Liliendaal, Georgetown and at the National Stadium, Providence, East Bank of Demerara (EBD).

At MovieTowne, people can get their vaccines between 09:00 hrs to 16:00 hrs, on both days, while at the National Stadium, vaccines will be administered between 09:00 hrs to 18:00 hrs.

Through these events, he said that the local health authorities anticipate that hundreds of people will turn out to get their COVID-19 vaccines. At previous drive-thru events, more than 1,000 people attended and received either their first or second dose of one of the three vaccines.

Importantly, at the drive-thru events this weekend, the first dose of the AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines will be distributed, while the second dose of the AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines will be distributed.

The country has not yet received the additional second doses of the Sputnik V vaccines. These vaccines, unlike the AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines, have a second dose that is different from the first.

Recently, however, Advisor to the Ministry of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, highlighted that people who are due to receive this second dose can wait up to a maximum of twelve weeks, instead of just four weeks as written on their vaccination cards. As such the delay in the shipment of the second dose of the Sputnik V vaccines is not a major cause for concern.

“We’re also partnering with a number of private sector companies and so there might be additional incentives if you show up to get your vaccine,” the Health Minister said.

He, however, did not indicate what those incentives might be.