Persons who would have recovered from COVID-19 will still need to be vaccinated, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony said during today’s update.
He said that studies are still ongoing to decide how long the immunity will last after someone recovers. He noted that data from the Centre for Disease Control in the United States, would have indicated that this immunity would last for about 90 days, “but beyond that, they don’t know”.
“So, it would be safe for persons – although they might have been infected – that they receive or accept the vaccine when the vaccine is made available, because it will add to the protection that they’ve already generated by natural immunity,” the minister added.
So far, 6,681 persons have recovered in Guyana.
Taking the vaccines in Guyana will not be mandatory.
The first set of doses to arrive in Guyana will be given to the frontline workers and the elderly.
A total of 104,000 doses are expected to arrive in Guyana through the COVAX mechanism. Two doses will be given to one person, which means, 52,000 persons will be immunized. Another 200,000 doses are expected from the Chinese government shortly.
