… to now receive 24,000, Anthony says
By Svetlana Marshall
Guyana is now expected to receive 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Vaccine through COVAX, 76,800 less than it was initially expected to receive, Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony disclosed on Monday.
COVAX – COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access – is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines led by UNICEF, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and others.
COVAX had committed to supply Guyana with doses of the AstraZeneca Vaccine to immunize approximately 20 percent of its population in 2021. Dr. Anthony, during a virtual press conference on Monday, said as a first tranche, the country was expected to receive 100,800 doses however, COVAX has since scaled down the numbers.
“We received a letter from them about a month and a half ago, where they promised to send as a first tranche 100,800 doses of vaccine, they then revised that total that they will be sending within the month to 33,000 doses of vaccine and today (Monday), I actually received another letter to say within the next three weeks, that we can expect 24,000 doses of the vaccine,” Dr. Anthony explained.
The Health Minister said Suriname and other countries within the Caribbean have also been affected and are likely to received reduced allocations of the vaccine through the COVAX Facility.
“That’s worrying for us because we are expecting and we were planning to utilize those doses to get to certain segments of our population,” Minister Anthony told reporters, explaining that the reduced number of vaccines stands the risk of affecting the pace at which the country rolls out its immunization programme.
By May, 15 Caribbean countries are expected to receive just over 2.1 million doses of COVAX vaccines. They include Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam, and Trinidad and Tobago. Six of these countries (Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines) will be receiving those vaccines free of charge.
However, in the interim, Guyana has been turning to its bilateral partners such as China and India to access vaccines through bilateral arrangements.
“We are expected to get 200,000 doses of Sputnik vaccine starting from next week; we will get tranches of 50, 000,” Dr. Anthony disclosed. Sputnik V is a vaccine developed by Russian.
Earlier this month, Guyana received 20,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China to aid COVID-19 immunisation programme aimed at developing herd immunity.
The Sinopharm vaccine has shown a 79.4 per cent effective rate in some clinical trials while in others, the rate is higher. According to the Health Ministry it is “a very effective vaccine” and compares favourably to the other Covid vaccines on the market such as the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca. Additionally, Guyana received 80,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine – COVISHIELD from the Government of India. COVISHIELD was produced in India. Initially the country has received 3,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine donated by Barbados.
Minister Anthony said Guyana has vaccines to inoculate 50,000 persons with priority being given to the country’s healthcare workers and elderly population – persons 60 years and older. “We have about 12,000 persons who are in the public and private healthcare system and we have another 59,000 persons who are 60 years and above,” he pointed out.
However, he assured that as more vaccines become available, other frontline workers such as teachers will be included.
