Guyana receives donation of 28,800 Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses from Spain govt

Government of Spain has donated 28,800 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Johnson & Johnson, to Guyana, assisting in the island country’s fight against the fatal virus. This donation has been made to the Caribbean island via the COVAX facility.

For this kind gesture of the Spain Government, Guyanese Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony expressed his gratitude while thanking the Spanish government and the other countries who are a part of COVAX.

Dr Anthony asserted, “We are lucky in Guyana to be able to get access to so many COVID-19 vaccines and that too via COVAX, we have had a very good partnership, and over the last couple of months, Guyana has been benefitted tremendously from COVAX in getting vaccines to our country”.

He added that several previous donations of the COVID-19 vaccines have lifted and boosted the COVID-19 vaccination drive of the country, helping it to achieve its target set for vaccination coverage.

Guyana was running out of Johnson and Johnson vaccine, and this donation has arrived at the appropriate time, the health minister emphasized.

“We were very much looking forward to get this particular shipment of the COVID-19 vaccines, and now that it has arrived, I am damn sure it would boost our endeavour to make sure that we get more vaccines out, especially the booster doses to people who need them,” he underscored.

As per the statement of the health minister, the daily vaccination coverage rate of Guyana has seen a massive jump; earlier during the holiday period, 80 doses of the vaccines were given to the general public, but now around 3,000 doses are being provided at the vaccination centres across the nation.

Meanwhile, he encouraged children between the age group of 12 to 18, as well as the adult population of the island, to get themselves immunized as soon as possible. Apart from Johnson & Johnson, other COVID-19 vaccines including, Sinopharm and AstraZeneca, are also being administered at the healthcare vaccination centres in Guyana.