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Yellow fever vaccines depleted…Ministry only facilitating doses for travel to Africa – CMO

Jul 28, 2016 News

“We do not operate a travel service,” said Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, of the rush by many individuals to the Ministry of Public Health and other sites, to secure Yellow Fever vaccines for the purpose of travelling.
According to Dr. Persaud, while the Ministry is no longer able to cater to persons travelling to many countries flagged as ‘at risk’ for the disease, “we will find vaccines for person travelling to countries on the African continent.”
This is in light of the fact that an outbreak of yellow fever has occurred in Angola and has reportedly spread to other African countries.
The CMO disclosed yesterday too, that Guyana is also currently reaching out to a number of countries to waive the immunisation requirement for travellers coming from ‘at risk’ countries such as Guyana. Already Guyana has been able to gain the support of Suriname and Trinidad in this regard, and Dr. Persaud said Guyana will do the same for these territories.
Among the persons who have been seeking the vaccine, are people who have arrangements to travel to the United States and other countries that do not require persons to be vaccinated.
A number of the persons who have been seeking the vaccine have been turned away for this very reason.
Countries such as the United States, Canada, Europe and Caribbean territories do not require persons travelling from Guyana to produce an international Yellow Fever certificate.
But according to Dr. Persaud, he is convinced that many people seeking the vaccine should not have to. This is due to the fact that being protected against Yellow Fever requires a once-in-a-lifetime dose.
The CMO pointed out that “I am sure that 99 per cent of the people rushing to the Ministry for this vaccine would have already gotten it. They just have to tell us when they got their vaccine or produce their cards and they can receive their international certificate.”
The Ministry is currently awaiting a supply of Yellow Fever vaccines to augment its depleted stock. But there remain sufficient vaccines for one-year-old children who have never before received the vaccine.
Dr. Persaud yesterday firmly dismissed speculations that the Ministry has any plans to divert the vaccines intended for young children, to adults who have travel arrangements.
“It can’t be right for us to do that…these are children who have never been protected. Can you imagine what will happen if they are exposed? Must we risk the life of a young child just so an adult can travel? That will not happen,” stressed Dr. Persaud.
He made it clear that the Ministry’s role is not to deal with travel arrangements of individuals, but rather to safeguard the nation as far as possible.
“We are not giving people vaccines just so that they can pass through Ports of Entry. That is not what the Ministry is about,” the CMO categorically asserted.
Commenting on reports that the vaccine was being made available, at a cost, at an unauthorised facility, the CMO said that he wasn’t aware of that, but will investigate. He disclosed that while the Ministry has been supplying certain facilities with the vaccines, these are only intended for young children who have never received the vaccine.
Yellow Fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected Aedes type mosquitoes. The yellow in the name refers to the jaundice that affects some patients. Symptoms of the disease include: fever, headache, jaundice, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and fatigues.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a small portion of patients who contract the disease develop severe symptoms and approximately half of those die within seven to 10 days.

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