THE Government of Guyana will be purchasing 200,000 doses of Sputnik vaccines from Russia at an approximate cost of US$20 per dose; this will work out to an overall price of $US4 million, or more than GYD$800 million according to President, Dr. Irfaan Ali.
“It is very expensive, but it is an expense we can’t spare,” Dr. Ali told reporters on Friday, following an activity at State House.
The Head-of-State said that “component one” of the Russian-made vaccines are being procured through an arrangement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and that the important purchase will require some adjustments to the country’s 2021 budget.
“We are making the resources available to ensure every Guyanese is vaccinated,” President Ali posited, adding that the necessary logistics are being finalised to ensure the safe transportation and arrival of the vaccines.

The President said that the government has already established a supply chain, and a number of private sector stakeholders have been engaged in an effort to ensure adequate storage facilities for the vaccines are available.
“We have to bring all the storage capacity together to get this done,” Dr. Ali acknowledged.
It was only on Wednesday night that the President announced the expansion of the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination programme, which will soon see persons 40 and above being eligible to access vaccines. Currently, the vaccination efforts target frontline healthcare workers and persons who are 60 years and older.
On Friday, Dr. Ali said that the expanded programme is likely to take effect by next Wednesday, following the expected arrival of 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines on Monday.

The President also referenced the commencement of a pre-vaccination process, which he said will see the documentation aspect of the programme being jointly handled by members of the Guyana Defence Force’s Medical Brigade and local medical students. These efforts will require persons to become registered before being given an appointment to be inoculated.
“The goal here is to have our population fully vaccinated. This is the utmost priority for me,” Dr. Ali posited.
He added: “Personally, I am taking this on as a task in ensuring that our population is vaccinated and that, as quickly as possible, we can return our country to some level of normalcy and get out of this pandemic.”

The President has laid out an ambitious plan to ensure that at least 10,000 persons are vaccinated daily.
This, Dr. Ali acknowledged, could only be achieved if the country is able to acquire even more vaccines.
As a consequence, the Head-of-State said that his government has already approached vaccine producers, Pfizer and Maderna for the purchase of additional supplies; however, neither of the companies would be able to sell Guyana any amount of vaccines for this year.
“We were told that this can only be available in 2022,” Dr. Ali said, adding: “The production lines are being stretched right now.”
Notwithstanding the challenges of sourcing the globally-demanded vaccines, the President told reporters that the Governments of Russia and Qatar have already been approached and discussions are ongoing to secure additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The President remains hopeful that the ongoing vaccination programme will cover majority of Guyanese, and see the country quickly achieving herd immunity.
Dr. Ali was quick to warn, however, that vaccination is not the solution that could put an end to the novel coronavirus.
“Even with vaccination, we still have to continue wearing the masks and taking the guidelines seriously,” the President emphasised.
He added: “This next four weeks is a very critical four weeks for us in ensuring that we stick to the guidelines while we push ahead with the vaccination. So, the Task Force will be working simultaneously with the vaccination programme to have strong enforcement, but we are sparing no effort and we are sparing no resource in getting the vaccines here.” To date, Guyana has received some 3,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Barbados and an additional 80,000 doses from India. The Government of the People’s Republic of China also assisted with 20,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine.
Added to this, the Government of Guyana is also working to secure another 149,000 doses of vaccines through a purchase agreement under a CARICOM-African Union agreement.