A NATIONAL Task Force that will be responsible for the rollout of vaccines for the COVID-19 disease will be announced this week, according to Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony.
During Monday’s COVID-19 update, the minister said that this body will be tasked with ensuring that Guyana is adequately prepared for the eventual rollout of the vaccine; and to ensure that this mandate is fulfilled, several persons have been engaged.
“What we’re looking for is a specific type of expertise as it relates to vaccines, cold chain (storage), logistics and management,” the minister said, adding that this expertise is being sought from individuals in both the public and private sectors.
Previously, the minister had highlighted that this task force will include government agencies, the private sector, members of the Joint Services and hopefully, expert immunologists.
The rollout of vaccines for COVID-19 will require careful logistical planning and management, but also specialised resource capacity. It is already known that cold-storage facilities are required.
The Ministry of Health has published bids for private contractors to procure and install refrigerators and vaccine carriers, which must be completed before Guyana receives its first quota of the COVID-19 vaccines next year.
It was reported that Dr. Anthony emphasised that all of the cold- storage spaces should have been already created to match the specific temperatures of whichever vaccine is chosen by the COVAX facility by mid-January.
The U.S. drug company Moderna had announced that its vaccine, the mRNA-1273 from Biotech, could be stored in a standard refrigerator with temperatures of two to eight degrees Celsius (36 degrees to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for 30 days. The rollout of this vaccine began only on Monday, in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the other vaccine that is already being distributed, the Pfizer vaccine, however, must be stored at very cold temperatures of minus 70 to 80 degrees. Measures are being put in place to ensure that the country’s cold-storage chain could accommodate either.
Beyond physical requirements, human capacity-building is necessary. The Health Ministry has also started to develop a training manual that would be used to train healthcare workers on how to administer a vaccine.
Guyana’s first set of COVID-19 vaccines will be secured free of cost, since the country has signed up with the COVAX facility, a global initiative geared at accelerating the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and then providing them in a guaranteed rapid, fair and equitable manner to those countries which need them. COVAX currently has the world’s largest and most diverse portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines.
Though signing up with COVAX carries a fee, Guyana’s costs are being met through GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, which is coordinating COVAX, along with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
This initial set of vaccines that Guyana will be receiving for free is expected to cover 20 percent of the population, and it is likely that healthcare workers and elderly persons with comorbidities (other underlying medical conditions) will receive it first.