Guyana on Friday received a third shipment of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines through the global COVAX initiative and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) representative Dr Luis Felipe Codina announced that a consignment of 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine is due to arrive here next month.
A shipment comprising a total of 57,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived on an Amerijet flight just around 1.30pm at the Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airport (CJIA), where the announcement was made.
During a handing over ceremony at CJIA, Dr Codina confirmed that the shipment represented the third consignment of vaccines from the COVAX facility and noted that it could not be completed without donations from a number of countries.
The donations, Dr Codina said, were very important so as to continue the country’s COVID-19 vaccination programme. He mentioned that Guyana is currently well off in terms of its access to vaccines through various donations and as a result he strongly recommended that everyone get vaccinated.
While encouraging persons to get vaccinated, the PAHO Representative observed that in the region, 87% to 97% of persons hospitalized with the virus are unvaccinated. “This is very important data that shows us that the vaccine has [an] important impact,” Dr Codina said.
Also present at the handing over was United States Ambassador to Guyana Sarah Ann Lynch, who mentioned that the United States was honoured to support the third shipment of vaccines and further commended Guyana on the efforts that are being made to get citizens vaccinated. She noted that the pandemic is a global issue and, therefore, it requires a collaborative response.
“We also would like to applaud Guyana on its effort to get its citizens vaccinated and this is a global problem that requires a global response. I think the fact that you see so many nations here assisting Guyana right now is a testament to the fact that we are working together to resolve this issue as quickly as possible,” Ambassador Lynch said. She added that the US is looking forward to delivering additional doses in the coming weeks and months.
Receiving the vaccines on behalf of the government, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony expressed gratitude for the assistance that Guyana has received during the pandemic so far. He mentioned that Guyana has received other donations that have helped in ensuring that the country is equipped to deal with COVID-19.
He further noted that while many other countries around the world are having challenges with accessing vaccines due to vaccine scarcity, Guyana did not. “Other countries have challenges with getting vaccines; they have vaccine scarcity. We, in Guyana, because of our friends, we don’t have that challenge, we have vaccines for every single adult in Guyana,” he said.
The initial donation for the shipment from COVAX, he said, was expected to be just over 30,000 doses, however, there was a donation of additional AstraZeneca doses from France that put the final tally at 57,600. UNICEF Guyana pegged the French donation at 19,200 doses.
The vaccines, Anthony reiterated, are easy to work with in the country as it corresponds to the country’s normal cold chain system and so can be sent to every region.
Additional vaccines
Meanwhile, during the handing over it was announced that the 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine due to be received in September are also being received through the COVAX facility.
“COVAX is also going to donate to us Pfizer vaccines and those are expected in the next shipment and so the 100,000 doses that you heard Dr Codina mention [are] going to be from the next shipment of COVAX vaccines,” Anthony said.
With this revelation, Stabroek News asked Anthony whether the initial deal with COVAX has been altered as COVAX had initially indicated that recipient countries would be allocated doses to cover 20% of its population.
The Health Minister stated that the arrangement with COVAX remains the same and they are still working with the 20% range as discussed previously. In the first three shipments, he indicated, Guyana has not surpassed its 20% quota as yet. He added that while that initial target was set by the COVAX facility, it has also been receiving donations of vaccines and further funding and as a result more vaccines are being made available.
“COVAX through the kind donations of countries like the United States and Canada and the EU and the UK now have additional vaccines and they have been using that to top up, in a sense, countries, so in that way we are getting additional vaccines,” Anthony told reporters.
