Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said yesterday that Guyana will receive some 240,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine next month which “will only satisfy about fifty percent of the need”, but he said negotiations are ongoing to acquire additional doses.
It is difficult for the country on its own to successfully make a bid for the vaccines, Ramsammy said, noting that each of the small countries in the region would have had a difficulty negotiating with the companies because they are manufacturing on sizeable orders. He said a country like Guyana that needed a few hundred thousand doses would not have been in a position to secure the vaccines easily.
The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) through the revolving fund was able to secure the vaccines after putting out a bid for the Caribbean and Central and South American region, Ramsammy said. The revolving fund was able to put in a procurement order for 200M doses of vaccines and according to the Minister, various producers submitted proposals to fulfill the request by PAHO.
Ramsammy told reporters that if Guyana is to meet a level of immunization that is going to cover most of the population, around 500,000 of the H1N1 vaccines would be needed and not the 240,000 doses that would be made available. The number of vaccines required depends on the dosage per person. He said that in some instances, one dose has been recommended per person while other suggestions have pointed to two doses.
Since a single dose of the vaccine costs US$7 dollars Ramsammy said the budget would be strained by $700-800M in procurement costs if Guyana decides to make purchases on its own. Due to the limited doses he said the health sector would be identifying vulnerable groups of persons to target among the initial groups to be immunized. He pointed to children under the age of 5 years; pregnant women; the elderly and persons with certain existing health conditions. Additionally, he said they also have to consider health care providers as vulnerable because their occupation puts them at risk.
According to Ramsammy, H1N1 has been affecting persons here between the ages of 15 and 40 years. Immuniza-tion is expected to begin as soon as the vaccines arrive, Ramsammy said, adding that a mass vaccination campaign will kick off. “…Guyana is not new to mass vaccinations, we did it with yellow fever among other things”, Ramsammy noted.
Commenting on whether there are any new developments with H1N1 here, Ramsammy replied in the negative. He said there are still 17 confirmed cases and 14 results pending. He restated a previous comment about there being no reported deaths in Guyana saying, “We wouldn’t hide it because even the best systems in the world have not been able to stop it”. He warned that Guyana will not escape the pandemic without a death. However, he said there may be an opportunity for the country to escape any deaths if people stick to the guidelines. “It is the little, the simple things that will protect people such as practising good hygiene”, he added.
Ramsammy said further that the equipment which Guyana has acquired to do testing for the H1N1 virus will allow health officials to test as doctors make a request. He said that the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) would not accept more than six specimens at a time from Guyana. However, he noted that sometimes Guyana had less then the stated six specimens to send out, but other times there were more.
Meanwhile, the Minister said that Guyana is to receive a special award next month for its immunization programme which he said had been recognized in the past for how successful it is.
He said the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI) has selected the country for another award of excellence which would be handed out in Vietnam next month.