GUYANA has already received 24,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX facility and the country should be receiving another 38,000 doses of the same vaccine by May, according to Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony.
Through the COVAX facility, Guyana was expected to receive an initial set of 100,800 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for free. The facility, however, has not been able to deliver the expected quantities to Guyana or other countries, due to global supply constraints.
In March, Guyana received 24,000 doses of the vaccine from COVAX. And, on Tuesday, during his daily COVID-19 update, Minister Anthony related that the local authorities have been informed that another 38,000 doses will be sent.
He noted that no specific date has been set, but said: “Hopefully we get that before the end of May and once we get that we will utilise it to ensure that people get the vaccine.”
According to allocation figures on Gavi’s website, 15 Caribbean countries will receive just over 2.1 million doses of COVAX vaccines by May. Jamaica was the first Caribbean country to receive vaccines through COVAX; this country received 14,400 doses out of the 124,800 allocated to the country in the initial rollout phase. Importantly, however, Jamaica has engaged COVAX as a self-financing participant.

Guyana, on the other hand, is part of the smaller grouping of Advance Market Commitment (AMC) countries which will receive their first tranche of vaccines for free.
Amid the pandemic, COVAX emerged as the global effort between the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI); Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance Gavi; the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
While this facility was created with an ambitious mandate of ensuring equitable distribution of vaccines, which are seen as the exit strategy for countries amid the pandemic, a wider issue of ‘vaccine nationalism’ has overshadowed its work.
The advanced economies of the world have been able to procure and stockpile vaccines–some securing enough to vaccinate their populations more than once, according to reports from American news agency, NPR — while many countries around the world have not been able to procure vaccines as yet, or only in much smaller quantities.

While speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), at a recent special meeting convened by the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council, Dr. Anthony highlighted the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)’s concerns over the inequitable access and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally.
He related that lockdown measures, supply chain disruptions, sharp decline in remittances, and a general decrease in travel, trade, and other economic activities that the region depends on, have all been disrupted by the pandemic.
As such, he made a fervent appeal for developing countries to provide an interim supply of vaccines to the region.
Meanwhile, incumbent Chairman of CARICOM, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Keith Rowley, has been engaging with figures in the US Administration for access to that country’s excess supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Dr. Rowley wrote to the US President, Joseph Biden, on March 19, 2021 asking the US to share its surplus vaccines.
President Biden in his response confirmed the United States’ commitment to partnering with COVAX and other multinational institutions to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines.