Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony on Thursday said that COVID-19 vaccines should be fairly distributed around the world in order for the pandemic to be eradicated even as several promising vaccine candidates which Guyana is slated to access through COVAX are yet to be approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Anthony recently revealed that COVAX has secured 2 billion of potential vaccine candidates, which, once approved, will be rolled out in Guyana and other countries during the second quarter of next year.
The WHO disclosed that they had signed an advance purchase agreement with AstraZeneca for 170 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford candidate, and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Johnson & Johnson for 500 million doses of the Janssen candidate, which is currently being investigated as a single dose vaccine. “These deals are in addition to existing agreements COVAX has with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for 200 million doses – with options for up to 900 million doses more – of either the AstraZeneca/Oxford or Novavax candidates, as well as a statement of intent for 200 million doses of the Sanofi/GSK vaccine candidate,” a WHO report stated.
The vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, and Moderna Inc, which were recently approved by several countries for emergency use, have not been signed on to the COVAX initiative although the talks between the two companies and the WHO are still ongoing.
“COVAX has not released any vaccines as yet. There are countries that did bilateral things with the suppliers so those countries who have the resources have been able to do that, for example the US [United States]. They had pre-ordered vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna along with some other countries. It’s the same through COVAX, which has 190 countries. The first set of vaccines is estimated to be rolled out within the second quarter of the year and in the meantime we have to go through a number of documents we have to sign with COVAX and we are in the process of completing those,” Anthony said on Thursday.
A representative from the Ministry told Stabroek News last week that they are uncertain which of the potential vaccines will be made available to Guyana once they are approved.
Meanwhile, Anthony noted that the more developed and richer countries pre-ordered vaccines from companies such as Pfizer and Moderna and in some instances even paid for some of the research so that they would be able to acquire the first set of vaccines. In addition, he said that some countries have also ordered surplus vaccines which the company will have to provide before they can accept orders from other countries. In this regard, he stated that the general shortage for COVID-19 vaccines and the fact that countries are buying more vaccines than are needed shows the inequity that exists in the world.
“The richer countries are [better] able to afford these vaccines than the poorer countries. If other countries are immunizing their population and other countries do not have the resources to do so it is that COVID-19 will be remaining in the world and it will spread. We have to look at that and we still don’t know the length of time the immunity will last,” he stressed.
He added that vaccines should be distributed fairly around the world to fully eradicate the virus which is the sole basis of the COVAX initiative.
By the end of the 2021, twenty per cent of the Guyanese population should be vaccinated once the several promising vaccines candidates are approved by the WHO, which has stated that rollout during the first quarter of 2021 is contingent upon regulatory approvals and countries’ readiness for delivery.
According to the WHO, the goal of COVAX is to deliver two billion doses of safe, effective vaccines that have passed regulatory approval and/or WHO prequalification by the end of 2021. These vaccines will be offered equally to all participating countries, proportional to their populations, initially prioritising healthcare workers then expanding to cover vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. Further doses will then be made available based on country need, vulnerability and COVID-19 threat. The COVAX Facility will also maintain a buffer of doses for emergency and humanitarian use.
