Regional Chairman, David Armogan yesterday reported that Region Six received 500 of the second doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine from the recent shipment and this has already been exhausted.
“Our region only received 500 of the Sputnik vaccines and the instructions from the Ministry of Health are that persons who would have taken the vaccines earlier should be given the privilege of having the second dose now”, he stated.
Armogan reported that based on information from the ministry they are expecting more of the second doses of the vaccine by next week within the region “before mid-week, and so once the next set comes in we are going to be able to roll out another set in the region so that more persons can have access to the second dose.”
The Sputnik V vaccine has two distinct doses. While the first dose has been readily available here the second dose had been unavailable for more than a month and it was only this week that the Health Ministry said that some had arrived in the country. It did not state how much but it appears that several vaccine centres have exhausted their allocations.
During a press briefing to update the media in Region Six on health issues yesterday, a journalist told the Chairman that it had been reported that the Sputnik second dose had been exhausted but some persons were still apparently receiving it.
According to the journalist, a colleague of his visited a location in New Amsterdam on Wednesday and was told that the second dose of Sputnik was not available in the region. However, after the person disclosed this on social media he was contacted to receive his vaccine yesterday morning which was done.
The regional chairman was told, “They said they don’t have any but a nurse gone down to town and then they called me back an hour after and they said they have one single one and we will give it to you.”
The chairman seemed puzzled at this since he said that the 500 doses came at one time and it was unclear how a nurse would be travelling to receive any.
Armogan then said that after the press conference he would investigate and clarify the issue at a later date with the media, noting that if persons are found hoarding the vaccine they will have to be held accountable. “If we have any kind of proof that they were hoarding the vaccine and only giving it to special people we have to deal with that… Those persons will have to be reported to the ministry and the ministry will have to take action”, the chairman stressed.
Since receiving the 500 Sputnik V second doses, the regional health department had not officially stated where persons could go to obtain it. Further, efforts by this newspaper to contact the Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr Vishalya Sharma had proved futile.
Almost all of the reporters in Region Six yesterday reported that they have unable to contact the RHO for several weeks now, and notably, the Regional Chairman was present to update the media on health issues whereas in the past the RHO would be present.
Meanwhile, the chairman reported that there are presently 100 active cases of Covid-19 in Region Six, with 37 being from New Amsterdam, 23 from Canje, 20 from Skeldon, 19 from the Upper Corentyne Area and 1 from the Berbice River. As of yesterday afternoon, there were 93 results still outstanding. “We seem to be stuck in a position where we have not been able to bring down this active number of cases and so we are still working hoping that people would listen and adhere to the advice so that we can bring down this number.”
In Region Six, Armogan reported there have been 48 deaths in total with two for the month of July so far. “That’s too much for a small population, 48 deaths is way too much. If people had taken the necessary precautions and would have adhered to the Covid–19 measures and if people had taken their vaccines we would not have this number of deaths”, he lamented.
Vaccine hesitancy
Meanwhile, the chairman reported yesterday that despite numerous efforts to visit populated areas and communities, residents of Region Six are still somewhat hesitant to take the Covid–19 vaccine.
According to Armogan, the vaccination rate as it relates to the Guyana Police Force and Health Department in Region Six is also low. “Which means that even health workers some of them still have hesitancy to take the vaccines.”
Armogan said that he would have expected that the regional frontline workers’ vaccination total would have been over 80% at this stage “but it’s nowhere close to that”.
