While urging citizens to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Friday said government is not considering a lockdown to address the continued rise in cases as he contended that there is no empirical evidence that they work.
At a press conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Jagdeo used Trinidad and Tobago to make his case as he said the ‘Twin Island Republic’ has been in a perpetual state of lockdown for the past year.
“And it did not help really… We had to have a nuanced approach, unlike other countries, which have totally shut down…,” he said.
Up to Friday, Guyana had recorded over 2,500 new COVID-19 cases for the month and over 50 more deaths. Up until recently, Trinidad and Tobago, which has a larger population, had manage to contain infections and keep deaths lower than the numbers recorded here.
Despite the growing number of new cases here in recent months, government has proceeded with the rollback of restrictions, while facing criticism over poor enforcement. As a result, there have been calls for lockdowns and an adjustment of the 10.30 pm to 4 am national curfew.
But Jagdeo said there is no evidence that shifting the curfew would see fewer infections. He argued that the faster people get vaccinated, the faster the country would be able to return to a state a normalcy. “If we are all vaccinated, then we can open up the country and we don’t have to wear masks. We can go about our business,” he said.
Pointing out that the vaccines are estimated to cost the state about $10,000 per person, he said government was nonetheless able to source vaccines for its entire adult population and is continuously analyzing global updates and recommendations on vaccination.
Guyana has been sourcing Sputnik V shots through the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
During his daily COVID-19 update last Thursday, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony repeated that Guyana has purchased a total of 800,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines, accounting for 400,000 of first and second doses.
To date, he noted, approximately 100,000 or more of the first and second doses have been received. These vaccines he explained, have all been sourced through the UAE with just over 600,000 more doses expected to arrive in tranches. “All of these vaccines we have been sourcing via the UAE and so that’s how we have been getting the Sputnik vaccines,” he informed, adding that the ministry has been working in collaboration with a private company.
President Irfaan Ali had announced in March that the government had held discussions with a group in the UAE for the supply of 200,000 doses of the vaccine. At that time he noted that the government was aiming to access vaccines from various sources.
Guyana has also acquired doses of the Oxford, AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX facility as well as through donations from Barbados and India, and doses of the Sinopharm vaccine through a donation from China.
Jagdeo noted that government had made numerous attempts to secure vaccines from other manufacturers but with limited amounts available and many developed countries pre-ordering, Third World countries were placed at a disadvantage.
