— 15,000+ persons vaccinated so far

GUYANA is expected to receive 205,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine as the country aims to continue its vaccination rollout to immunise citizens from the Sars-Cov-2 virus that causes the disease COVID-19.

Recently, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali announced that Guyana would receive 5,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia. It is unclear whether this is a donation, but these vaccines are expected shortly.

“Those discussions are ongoing, we were expecting to receive the first 5000 doses from them and we are still working out the logistics to get that from Moscow to Guyana,” Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony noted on Friday, while providing an update on the vaccines.

In addition to that tranche of vaccines, though, the Health Minister highlighted that Guyana has also put in a purchase order for 200,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine. He said that within a two-week period, the first 50,000 doses should arrive in Guyana.

The minister did not state how much these vaccines will cost. In the 2021 National Budget, however, a provision of over $750 million was made to support the rolling out of COVID-19 vaccines from February and for the rest of the year in a phased approach.

Already, Guyana has received a total of 103,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines; 80,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were donated by India; 20,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine were donated by China and 3,000 of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from Barbados.

The government is awaiting a consignment of 104,000 vaccines through the COVAX mechanism, and 149,000 doses under a CARICOM-African Union purchase agreement.

Meanwhile, the Health Minister related that 15,524 persons have been immunised so far. The persons immunised so far are healthcare workers and elderly persons over the age of 60. The vaccination exercice has also expanded to all regions.