Twenty-five thousand doses of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Guyana on Friday.
In a statement after the shipment landed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, the Ministry of Health said the vaccines will be used to provide 25,000 Guyanese with their first vaccine dose against COVID-19.
Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that arrangements are already being made to have another batch shipped shortly.
“This vaccine is a two-dose vaccine as well and we’ll have an interval of three weeks between first and second dose, so the 25,000 that came in are all the first dose so we’ve made arrangements as well to start getting the second dose,” he was quoted as saying by DPI.
Anthony also said the government is still exploring other avenues to procure more vaccines. “We have various options. Right now, apart from the Sputnik V that we have bought, we have additional vaccines that we’re expecting to get from COVAX and we are constantly exploring new avenues to make sure that we have enough vaccines to immunise our adult population,” he explained.
With the latest shipment, Guyana has now received a total of 152,000 doses of vaccines, comprising 3,000 doses from Barbados (from a donation made by India to Barbados), 20,000 doses from China, 80,000 doses from India, 24,000 doses from COVAX, and 25,000 doses procured from the UAE (via Russia)
A total of 5,000 doses of vaccines have since been donated to Barbados.
The Health Ministry said on Friday that it expects to vaccinate 86,000 persons with first doses and 61,000 of these persons with both their first and second doses from the supplies acquired so far.
With the doses available initially, government launched its national vaccination programme in February, beginning with health workers and then persons 60 years and older. The programme has since been extended to include persons 40 years to 59 years.
The government intends to vaccinate all persons aged 18 and older.
“So far, the COVID-19 vaccination rollout has administered 39,831 doses of vaccines. During next week, by the end of April 10, the accelerated [Ministry of Health] COVID-19 vaccination rollout will reach at least, 40,000 persons, with the target being a total of 80,000 Guyanese having received their first doses of vaccines. This is an incredible achievement in an environment where developing countries have had little to no access to COVID-19 vaccines. More than 30 countries have had no access to even a single dose of vaccines as yet. Dozens of countries have only received enough vaccines for less than one percent of their population,” the ministry said in its statement.
“Over the next several days and in the coming weeks, Guyana will pursue access to an even larger amount of vaccines. The President and the Vice President have been aggressively pursuing COVID-19 vaccine procurement from all possible legitimate sources. As they have assured the nation, the Government is determined to ensure everyone is vaccinated in 2021”, the statement further said.
It added that the Minister of Health is leading the effort to ensure that as soon as Guyana receives vaccines, those vaccines are dispensed at the community level. “The rollout will ramp up from Tuesday April 6. There will be almost 100 fixed-sites around the country. There will also be mobile teams in all ten regions. In addition to these sites, there are special sites. Among these are special sites organized through a collaboration between religious leaders. The [Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana] has been a leading player in this initiative. Banks DIH has organized a site that will be activated this week. These efforts assist the MOH in mobilization and we encourage others to help mobilize our sisters and brothers in a similar way,” the ministry noted.
Additionally, the ministry urged local government bodies, such as the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils, and religious leaders, such as Pastors, Pandits and Imams, to encourage people in the communities to take their vaccines. “We urge political leaders to take an active role in promoting COVID-19 vaccination. Further, we urge everyone to be responsible. For those persons promoting conspiracy theories, we ask them to desist,” the statement added.
