Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon’s assault on the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine batch being used here is reprehensible and raises serious questions about his judgement. Considering that Mr Harmon was named by former President Granger as head of the National Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Task Force on April 24 2020 and which appointment should have made him acutely aware that a vaccination against COVID was the only way to roll back the pandemic, his smearing of the batch of Sputnik vaccines being utilised here and a call for its use to be suspended is reckless.
It is all the more grossly irresponsible as Mr Harmon must be keenly aware that there is significant vaccine hesitancy particularly in regions where the coalition he speaks on behalf of draws major support. His careless allegations can further set back the ongoing vaccination programme and needlessly put persons at risk by hardening their resolve not to be vaccinated.
Mr Harmon’s stance appeared to have been influenced by a report in the Norwegian newspaper, Verdens Gang which primarily focused on the selling of Sputnik V at significantly inflated prices. According to the report, while the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has been selling a dose of the vaccine for US$10, Dubai’s Sheik Ahmed Dalmook Al-Maktoum and his associates have been selling it at US$20 a dose and this is the price Guyana has purchased it for. There is no suggestion in this report that the vaccines acquired by the Emirati sheik, a member of the royal family, are not authentic. In fact, according to this report Al-Maktoum’s company is the sales agent for a company which has bought the COVID-19 vaccines from RDIF.
As Leader of the Opposition and presumably having a special ongoing interest in the staving off of the COVID-19 pandemic, one would have expected that Mr Harmon would have immediately engaged the administration in April this year when it became known that the Russian vaccine was being procured via a third party in the United Arab Emirates. There is no evidence of interest from Mr Harmon.
In April this year, it would have also been known to Mr Harmon that Guyana had been unable to procure vaccines from major manufacturers because of the small size of its market. It was only able to begin its vaccination programme with a generous and heart-warming donation of 3,000 shots from Barbados and later 20,000 doses from China and another 80,000 vaccines from India. The WHO’s COVAX programme, beset by various supply problems, has thus far delivered only 62,400 doses, enough to fully vaccinate 31,200 persons. It is scheduled to supply only 38,400 more or enough to vaccinate a further 19,200 persons.
For Guyana to get anywhere near to safety from the pandemic, it needs to fully vaccinate at least 500,000 persons which requires one million doses. The government took a decision in April to purchase at double the price from the Sheik’s company in Dubai. Given everything that is known about the virus – 444 persons have already died here although in reality this figure is likely to be higher – and the extreme difficulty in accessing vaccines from manufacturers as the developed world had gobbled up more than is needed – no one could reasonably fault the decision to purchase from the Sheik’s company.
Acting without any public interest restraint, Mr Harmon cast all manner of aspersions last Thursday. On his Facebook page he called for the suspension of the use of the first 200,000 doses of Sputnik “which were procured at exorbitant prices of over $600 million above market rate by the PPP via questionable means from Sheik Al-Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates who, a Norwegian newspaper, Verdens Gang, reports is sourcing his vaccines via a Norwegian convict by the name of Per Morten Hansen”. Mr Harmon has not established what the “questionable means” were and whether this impacted on the authenticity of the vaccines.
Mr Harmon then deepens his folly by referring to what he said was the discovery of a batch of 200,000 fake Sputnik V vaccines in Mexico. The nexus between this discovery and the Guyana shipment has not been established though it must be noted that Mr Harmon reported identical figures of 200,000 as if that on its own created a link. What was supposedly discovered as fakes in Mexico was not 200,000 doses. It was 1,155 vials found in false bottoms of ice chests aboard a private plane bound for Honduras and amounting to only 5,700 doses. Mexico has not conclusively established whether they were indeed fakes but even so how does that impact on the Guyana shipment?
The Opposition Leader then gymnastically says that “until the PPP can provide credible assurances that the vaccines are authentic, their use should be suspended”. Mr Harmon has not made out any cogent case for the suspension of the use of the batch. His intent appears simply to try to score political points completely oblivious or uncaring of the impact this excursion into fear-mongering can have on the vaccination programme and the safety of people who should be vaccinated.
In the interest of assuaging the Guyanese public the, government here should secure documentation from the RDIF verifying that the batch numbers purchased from Dubai are as supplied by the manufacturers. In the meanwhile, Mr Harmon and his coalition should be doing their utmost to convince their supporters that they should be inoculated against COVID-19.
