Government is expecting the first set of Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines to arrive in Guyana later this week and will continue the expansion of the vaccination programme as more shots arrive.
This was disclosed yesterday during the Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony’s COVID-19 update where he stated that later this week, the health authorities are expecting the shipment of Sputnik vaccines. However he did not give a date of arrival.
Some weeks ago, President Irfaan Ali had announced that Guyana was in discussions with Russia for the supply of some 300,000 doses of the vaccine. Dr Anthony had later noted that a purchase order for approximately 200,000 doses of the vaccine was made and that the consignment should be expected in the country soon. “As the president said last week, once we get the additional Sputnik vaccines we will lower it to 40 and above. So we’re working on that but generally I think the uptake [in vaccine administration] has been good,” Dr. Anthony opined during yesterday’s COVID-19 update.
Meanwhile, the minister acknowledged the recent arrival of 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX mechanism and noted that with that with those doses, the authorities will be able to fully immunise 12,000 persons.
“With 24,000 doses we will be able to fully immunise 12,000 persons. We will start administering those doses during this week and then we will wait between 8 to 12 weeks when we will give the second shot,” the minister informed. He noted that Guyana has been engaging COVAX for quite some time and is one of ten countries in the region that will be getting vaccines free through the mechanism.
He expressed gratitude on behalf of himself and the government to the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization along with UNICEF and other partners for assisting Guyana in accessing the vaccines.
