US Group donated Moderna vaccines to Guyana- Health Minister

A group from the United States (US) donated 1,100 doses of the US-made Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to Guyana, according to the Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony.

The minister said this on Friday during his daily COVID-19 update, while responding to a question from the News Room. He could not provide the name of the group that donated these vaccines but promised to provide that information subsequently.

“When we received it, we offered them first to all of the health workers in the system who have not been vaccinated as yet.

“Some of them accepted and got vaccinated and whatever remained, we gave it out to the general public,” the Health Minister said.

He also related that the “small donation” was distributed quickly, with all of the first doses distributed within a day.

This Moderna vaccine, like most other COVID-19 vaccines, is administered in two doses and as such, 550 doses would have been distributed as first doses while the remaining 550 was placed into storage and will be distributed when the individuals become due for their second dose.

Importantly, no official announcement of the consignment of Moderna vaccines was ever made;  as a matter of fact, it was advisor to the Ministry of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who revealed that a small amount of these vaccines were available for distribution via his Facebook page.

Days before that announcement, on July 3, the Department of Public Information (DPI) announced, via its Facebook page, that a quantity of the Moderna vaccines had arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA). The vaccines were brought by Amerijet airlines. No additional details were provided and that post was subsequently removed.