After receiving confirmation from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) that the Sputnik V shots acquired by Guyana are authentic, the Ministry of Health yesterday called on Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon to withdraw his recent statements questioning the authenticity of the vaccines and to apologise to the nation.
A letter, dated June 22, was sent to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony by the General Director of the RDIF Corporate Center Alexander Chistyakov, who confirmed the authenticity of the shipments.
“The letter dismisses Mr Joseph Harmon’s malicious and reckless statements that the Sputnik V vaccines in Guyana are fake”, the Health Ministry subsequently announced in a statement, while noting that the batch numbers listed by the RDIF match those of the vaccines received by the ministry.
Chistyakov’s letter, which was released by the Health Ministry, contains the batch numbers and expiry dates for all the vaccines along with the quantity of doses for each component.
“We would like to confirm, hereby, the authenticity of the shipments of “Gam-COVID Vac” adenovirus vector vaccine containing Component-I: recombinant serotype-26 adenoviral particles containing the S-protein gene of the SARS-CoV-2 (“Sputnik V”) with the below listed batches that have been dispatched to Aurugulf (UAE) for further transportation to the countries where Aurugulf received authorization for selling and distribution of “Sputnik V”, including Guyana,” the letter states.
According to the letter, Guyana has received a total of 305,537 doses of the Sputnik V shots so far through five shipments and of that amount 244,268 are the first dose component, while only 61,268 are second dose components. Guyana has been out of second dose shots for over a month. It is unclear how Guyana did not receive an equal amount of first and second dose components in each tranche. The RDIF has experienced problems supplying second doses as the component required for it takes longer to develop than for the first dose. Mexico and other countries are also awaiting second doses from Russia.
Anthony had previously noted publicly that Guyana has purchased Sputnik V jabs to cover a total of 400,000 persons.
Questions about the vaccines were raised after some $1.28 billion was approved by the National Assembly recently for the purchase of vaccines between April 1, 2021 and June 8, 2021. Some $975 million was spent for the purchase of 200,000 doses of Sputnik V.
During a sitting of the National Assembly last week, Harmon had asked for an explanation of the due diligence done for the purchase of the vaccines from Russia and it was then revealed that the shots were procured from Dubai’s Sheik Ahmed Dalmook Al-Maktoum. Anthony then revealed that over $2 billion in vaccines were purchased from Al-Maktoum’s company.
Harmon at that time had raised questions about there being a middle man in the procurement process of the vaccines and brought up an article from a Norwegian news outlet which had reported that some intermediaries have obtained the vaccines and are re-selling them at a premium.
Harmon also called for authorities to suspend the administration of the Sputnik V shots in Guyana’s inoculation programme until the authenticity of the vaccines could be credibly assured.
The Ministry of Health afterwards defended the purchase of the vaccines and stated that the country did not procure vaccines from any illegal entity or persons in trouble with legal authorities. A statement from the ministry noted, “In every instance, the Ministry of Health has followed the established process and has established legally binding contracts to ensure the timely delivery of these vaccines.”
Harmon’s call for the suspension of the use of the vaccine was met with a backlash from the government and President Irfaan Ali said it was against the interest of Guyanese and put the lives of persons at risk.
In a subsequent letter to the Minister of Health, Harmon had asked for Anthony to release detailed information on the shots which were purchased by the government. He requested the quantities and batch numbers of the vaccines.
The Ministry of Health yesterday called on Harmon to publicly withdraw his statements questioning the vaccines’ authenticity, endorse the vaccination programme and publicly apologise “for the irreparable harm that he has done” to it, “the distrust that he has created and the vaccine hesitancy that he caused which has indirectly put at risk the lives of many Guyanese.”
