President Irfaan Ali today said that Guyana should receive 5,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik 5 COVID-19 vaccine next Thursday.
This would be directly from Moscow. It is unclear whether this is a donation. In an address to the nation on the situation with COVID vaccines, Ali said discussions have been held with Moscow on the supply of 300,000 doses but supply chain matters are a problem.
He also announced that discussions have been held with a group in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the supply of 200,000 doses of the Sputnik 5 vaccine and 50,000 doses could be delivered in two weeks and similar tranches in the ensuing fortnights until the supply figure is met.
The President noted that Guyana had been promised 108,000 COVID vaccine doses from the World Health Organisation’s COVAX mechanism in the first quarter of the year but there has been no word from the organisation on this supply in the last month. The COVAX mechanism has encountered severe problems with its supply chain.
Ali said that discussions have also been initiated with China’s Sinopharm for 200,000 doses and India for 400,000 doses of its indigenously developed vaccine, Covaxin.
There have also been discussions with the African Union platform.
Ali also disclosed that there have been direct discussions with vaccine manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer but both have said that they can only commit to supplying vaccines in 2022.
The President declared again the government’s intention to ensure that all Guyanese are vaccinated by the end of the year.
He thanked the governments of India and China for the supply of vaccines. India donated 80,000 AstraZeneca Covishield doses while China donated 20,000 Sinopharm vaccines.
Earlier, Barbados had donated 3,000 doses.
Hundreds of persons in the over-60 and other categories have since been inoculated. Each person requires two doses.