Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony on Friday confirmed that there is currently no revaccination plan for persons who wish to travel but have received the Sputnik V vaccine, which has not yet been approved and is not being accepted by some countries as a valid shot.
Speaking during his daily COVID-19 update, Anthony stated that revaccination would mean that persons would receive additional vaccines that could be used to inoculate the unvaccinated population.
During the update, Stabroek News inquired as to the Ministry of Health’s plan to address the issue of persons who wish to travel but have received the so far unapproved vaccine. This is in light of reports of the possible approval of the Sputnik V vaccine, which has been “backbone” of Guyana’s inoculation programme, being delayed to 2022 by some regulatory bodies.
The minister noted that from information that the government has received following an international meeting suggested that the Russian made vaccine is scheduled for approval by the World Health Organi-zation (WHO) in late November or early December.
“If they hold to that schedule then the WHO should approve the vaccine. Once it’s a WHO approved vaccine then you wouldn’t have any problems with travel,” he said.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that the EU drug regulator is unlikely to decide whether to approve Sputnik V until at least the first quarter of 2022 because some data needed for the review is still missing. “An EMA decision by the end of the year is now absolutely impossible,” a source was quoted as saying, referring to the Euro-pean Medicines Agency.
The EMA, which launched its formal review of the Russian vaccine in March, had previously been expected to decide in May or June whether to approve use of the shot.
Asked whether there is a system in place for persons to be revaccinated in the event that they need to travel for emergency purposes to some countries that are not accepting the vaccine, Anthony said at this point the ministry does not have a revaccination policy.
“The government does not have a revaccination policy. We’re not encouraging it at this point in time because right now I think a lot of people are concerned about travel to the United States but the United States I think haven’t set a date by when they would be accepting vaccines,” he stated.
Anthony contended that if the health authorities were to revaccinate persons it would mean that some persons would receive vaccines that could be used for currently unvaccinated persons. He opined that the pool of unvaccinated would first have to be reduced before a revaccination programme can be set up.
Up to Friday morning, Anthony said, a total of 376,436 adults or 73.4% of the eligible population had received a first dose of a COVID vaccine here, with 236,238 or 46.1% receiving a second dose.
