#Guyana, March 22, 2021 – Minister of Health, Hon. Dr Frank Anthony says the arrival of the 20,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, Tuesday evening, is significant as Guyana moves to roll out a comprehensive COVID-19 immunisation campaign aimed at developing herd immunity.
The Minister said the
20,000 doses would see approximately 10,000 persons being vaccinated.
“You can rest assured that we will start very early to start getting these vaccines into people’s lives because we strongly believe that that’s where it should be. That is what is going to help them to build immunity and to fight against COVID-19,” he said.
The Minister made this
statement following the signing of the Acceptance Certificate of Vaccines at a
simple ceremony held at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
Dr. Anthony expressed
gratitude on behalf of the Government and People of Guyana to the Government of
the People’s Republic of China for the generous and timely donation.
Charge d’Affaires at
the Embassy in Guyana, Mr. Chen Xilai said the donation reflects his country’s
commitment to lending support to Guyana.
“I hope these vaccines
will be used on the most needed people and help Guyana in the fight against the
COVID and the recovery of the economy,” he said.
The vaccines arrived at
the CJIA onboard a Caribbean Airlines flight from Canada. Guyana is the
first country in the Caribbean to have received a donation of COVID-19 vaccine
from China.
Vaccine
safety
In response to a query
about the safety and effectiveness of the Sinopharm vaccine, Dr. Anthony said
that scientific studies have shown that it has a low number of side effects.
Further, the manufacturer of the vaccine is one of the largest producers and
distributors of vaccines globally.
“On an annual basis, Sinopharm probably makes more than a billion vaccines and they have been supplying vaccines globally. So, they’re not a new kid on the block when it comes to vaccines, they’ve been doing this for a long time,” he said.
The Sinopharm vaccine has shown a 79.4 per cent effective rate in some clinical trials while in others, the rate is higher. The Minister said it is “a very effective vaccine” and compares favourably to the other Covid vaccines on the market such as the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
“From all that we’ve seen, all the scientific data that we’ve seen, the side effects for this vaccine is very minimal. And therefore, there should be absolutely no reason why people don’t take the vaccine,” he said.
The vaccine is also
currently being considered by the World Health Organization for emergency
approval. Minister Anthony also noted that the COVAX facility, which only
accepts vaccines of the highest standards, will be receiving 11 million doses
of the Sinopharm vaccine from China.
Adding to the
Minister’s comments, the Chinese Charge d’Affaires gave assurances that the
Government of China is serious about vaccination development and conducted
scientific research over a long period of time. He said the Sinopharm vaccine
has been put through three phases of trials in numerous countries and “the
quality of the vaccine is guaranteed.”
Additionally, he said
the vaccine has been administered to over 40 million Chinese nationals,
including high ranking government officials.
Minister Anthony
appealed to the public to take the vaccine once the opportunity arises. The
elderly and people with comorbidities are next in line to receive the vaccine.
Once the Ministry has sourced sufficient quantities, teachers would be next in
line to benefit, in keeping with the Government’s efforts to safely reopen
schools.