Guyana: Health Minister denies viral post, no child died with Pfizer vaccine

The Health Ministry on Friday denied the rumours of a social media post which alleges that a child died after receiving the Pzifer COVID-19 vaccine in Guyana.

2nd of October 2021

Dr. Frank Anthony, Health Minister of Guyana.

Georgetown, Guyana: The Health Ministry on Friday denied the rumours of a social media post which alleges that a child died after receiving the Pzifer COVID-19 vaccine in Guyana.

The MOH also plans to report this misinformation campaign to the cybercrime unit so that required actions can be taken to bring those responsible to justice.

“The Ministry of Health – (MOH) would like the public to know that no such vaccine-related incident occurred in Nabaclis or anywhere else in Guyana.”

The Ministry further noted that among the 25,000 adolescents receiving the Pfizer vaccine, no such case or death/serious illness had been reported in the island country.

The Health Ministry has called the post as a propaganda against the government.

“Those who are spreading such fake news, using a non-vaccine related tragedy, are guilty of dangerous, deadly mischief-making and propaganda. A family tragedy is being used to wickedly promote false stories about COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to hinder the vaccine programme in Guyana.”

Ministry asked the ones who are spreading false news and fear-mongering in the minds of citizens to stop doing it, stating, “We urge those who are spreading this story to desist from doing so.”

In addition to this, the Ministry of Health has also urged the citizens to come forward and take their jabs of the COVID-19 vaccines. MOH has also asked the people of Guyana to strictly follow the COVID-19 health protocols to curb the spread and suppress the chances of transmission of the contagious virus.

As per to the vaccination statistics, till now, there are a total of 543,000 individuals have received their first jab of the vaccine. On the other hand, there are in total 186,000 individuals who have taken their second shots of the COVID-19 vaccine and are now fully vaccinated, which is around 23,6 per cent of the island’s total population.

The figures show that around only 34 per cent of the world’s population is fully vaccinated against the deadliest coronavirus.