Barbados getting 7,000 J&J vaccines from Guyana; sick persons at home to benefit

Guyana will be sending 7,000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to Barbados on Tuesday, as part of efforts to help that country expand its vaccination programme.

This donation was announced on Monday night during a virtual briefing from the Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley, who stated that the vaccines are expected to arrive in Barbados at 10:00hrs on Tuesday.

While answering questions posed to her by Barbadian journalists, the Prime Minister expressed her gratitude to Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali, who she said has “once again shown that he is prepared to be a friend of Barbados.”

“… as you know the Johnson and Johnson are single-dose vaccines and we believe that this will work particularly well for some of the shut-ins that they can, with the one jab, be protected,” she said during the briefing.

Guyana in late August received 34,000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. This vaccine was procured through the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) via an agreement made with the African Union.

Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony previously stated that this vaccine would be distributed in hinterland communities, especially in those hard-to-reach communities since it is a single-dose vaccine.

Meanwhile, earlier in the briefing, the Prime Minister commended her compatriots for taking the life-saving COVID-19 vaccines that are being offered by the local health authorities since these medical tools would help to protect people from experiencing the severe symptoms of COVID-19.

It is important to note that Guyana and Barbados have joined hands to combat the COVID-19 pandemic since earlier this year.

In fact, Guyana’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout started after Barbados sent 3,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines to Guyana; these vaccines were from a larger consignment donated to Barbados from India.

Subsequently, Mottley had announced that Guyana sent 5,000 doses of those same vaccines back to Barbados after the country had received its own substantial donation- 80,000 doses- from India.