— working closely with India to facilitate commercial arrangement, says Indian High Commissioner
THOUGH Guyana has not finalised any purchase agreements, the country is interested in some 400,000 doses of the ‘Covaxin’ vaccine for COVID-19 created in India by the Bharat BioTech company and the Indian Council for Medical Research, according to Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr. K. J. Srinivasa.
In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday, the High Commissioner noted that many countries, including Guyana, have signalled their interest in purchasing the Covaxin vaccine. The demand, he said, has increased since the AstraZeneca vaccine — which is produced by the Serum Institute of India and in South Korea — has now become a scarce commodity.
Guyana has received 3,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the quantity of vaccines donated to Barbados by India and subsequently, its own donation of 80,000 doses from India. These vaccines, along with a donation of 20,000 sinopharm vaccines from China, have allowed Guyana to start vaccinating its frontline healthcare workers and elderly persons over the age of 60, in all 10 administrative regions.
Dr. Srinivasa related that information on this Covaxin vaccine was submitted to the Ministry of Health in January, and since then, the two countries have been working “closely” on facilitating this commercial arrangement.
“We understand that Guyana does have a requirement (for vaccines) and we are willing to facilitate that, so I have told the guys in India to hold onto the vaccines, not to send it off the supplies while we await the decision from the Ministry of Health,” the High Commissioner highlighted.
He also emphasised that Guyana signalled a strong interest in procuring vaccines but the country has been following the relevant internal procedures needed before the vaccines can be procured. The High Commissioner also noted that Bharat Biotech has given the local authorities a proforma invoice, which is a preliminary bill of sale.
“They have expressed their interest to buy it… once they say okay to that and sign on the dotted line then we will begin the process,” Dr. Srinivasa assured. He later told this publication that the local authorities have requested about 400,000 doses of the vaccines but the current process will only be for 100,000 doses.
“In India also, 400,000 doses will be alot to send out so we will do it in chunks,” he said, explaining why only 100,000 doses are currently being processed.
“Once that comes, it has to go through the process with the Ministry of External Affairs which is our Foreign Ministry, because they are controlling our supplies and sending them all over the world, and because it is a precious resource we don’t want to overdo it in one place,” he noted also.
This Covaxin vaccine has received emergency use authorisation in India since January 3 and has been taken by frontline healthcare workers and elderly persons over the age of 65, who are currently being vaccinated in the South-Asian country. The country’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, also took this vaccine, which was found with an efficacy of 80.6 per cent from the early analysis of trial results.
It is being monitored by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the vaccine is administered in two doses, with the second dose being given four weeks (or 28 days) after the first dose.
Currently, Guyana is also purchasing 200,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia. The first 50,000 doses are expected next week, and the same amount is expected weekly until the entire amount is received.
