Yellow fever vaccine arrives in Guyana from Brazil
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| Published on Friday, September 5, 2008 |
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GEORGETOWN, Guyana (GINA): Guyana has for several years been concentrating on expanding its immunization coverage which has earned it a prestigious Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) award for its outstanding vaccination in children and for maintaining good surveillance in vaccine preventable diseases.
To ensure that it is always prepared in case of an emergency, the Ministry of Health has been securing adequate stock and in this regard its vaccination programme has been significantly boosted with the acquisition of 10,000 units of yellow fever vaccine which Guyana sought to secure in light of recent outbreaks of several diseases including yellow fever, in several countries.
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| Containers of yelllow fever vaccines which were donated by the Brazilian Government to Guyana. GINA Photo |
Brazilian Ambassador to Guyana, Arthur Meyer on Thursday presented the vaccines to an appreciative Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy at the Ministry’s Vaccination Centre, Brickdam.
Guyana is not affected by transmissible yellow fever; however, since there were reports of disease outbreaks, the administration had moved to ensure there was a safe supply of vaccines in case the country was affected.
He added that Guyana has been procuring vaccines and other medicines from Brazil for sometime as the country is a quality producer of such supplies.
The two countries have been strengthening health relationships and have been catering for the safety of Guyanese and Brazilians as they both traverse each other’s country.
“As of recent, many Brazilians are visiting Guyana and some are even living in the country while the same goes for Guyanese in Brazil. We want to ensure that these persons coming or leaving the country are safe and are vaccinated from many diseases as possible,” Ramsammy said.
The Ministry of Health’s vision is to achieve and maintain 100 percent immunization coverage with existing vaccines and introduce new vaccines so that persons can be protected from preventable diseases.
Ambassador Mayer committed his Government’s support to Guyana and expressed his willingness to work with the country to maintain a healthy population.
In 1999, the Ministry of Health embarked on a massive vaccination programme against yellow fever while persons especially children have been vaccinated from other diseases such as polio, small pox and rubella.
Additionally, during the last decade, Guyana initiated a programme to administer the DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tentanus) vaccine which protects from whooping cough while the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine which protects against cervical cancer will soon be introduced. | | | | Reads : 689 | | | |
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