— Health Ministry rejects divisive statements from Opposition Leader

THE Ministry of Health has said that saving the lives of Guyanese is not an overpriced option, and at no time did Guyana procure vaccines from an illegal entity and accessed vaccines secretly from anyone, as it rejected statements from Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon as malicious. According to the ministry, in a statement, it has followed the established procedure and has established legally-binding contracts to ensure the timely delivery of these vaccines, pointing out that Harmon’s statements on these matters are intended to add to the whisper campaign in communities to slow down the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. “His Excellency, President Irfaan Ali, has also announced prices Guyana has paid. It has never been a secret that Guyana paid $US22 per dose of the Sputnik V vaccine and $US17 per dose of Sinopharm. These prices include all associated cost, including ground and air transport.

“We are disappointed that the Leader of the Opposition believes that the price Guyana paid for Sputnik V vaccines is overpriced. When he admitted in Parliament that he could not get a better price, the Ministry of Health will never believe that saving the lives of our people is an overpriced option. Guyana has sought to procure directly from the Russian Sovereign Fund, but with no firm commitments on a delivery schedule, Guyana opted to utilise a supplier. It was a good investment for our people at the time. It remains a good investment at this time. The Ministry of Health has no apologies in this regard,” the ministry said.

The Opposition Leader, the ministry pointed out has openly declared that in vaccinating 223,659 persons with a first dose and the 92,157 fully vaccinated persons so far, the price paid was not worth it. But the Health Ministry noted that no one who is fully vaccinated in Guyana has ended up in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU); none has died, contending that this investment in Guyanese is entirely worth it. The ministry also said that it has followed the standard operation procedures (SOPs) for procurement, always obtaining the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board’s approval for procurement. In terms of the single-sourcing of vaccines, the ministry said that there is no availability from different sources that permit open tendering.
Guyana has purchased, through direct procurement, Sputnik V vaccines from the Office of Admed Dalmook Al Maktoum; Johnson and Johnson and other vaccines from the African Union and SinoPharm vaccines from Sinopharm.

Guyana has sought to procure from any of the entities or countries with vaccines approved for use in those countries.
“We will continue to do so and procure vaccines from sources with authentic availability,” the ministry said, stressing that Guyana has not procured vaccines from any illegal source as suggested by the opposition. “We are not aware of, have not seen any evidence, and none was presented by the Leader of the Opposition, or any other person or entities, that show Sheik Al Maktoum is an international fraudster or wanted in any country. The Ministry of Health rejects the Leader of the Opposition’s mischievous and malicious attempt to derail the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Guyana.

Instead, we will again encourage him, stop his divisiveness, stop undermining the vaccination drive, and ask that he encourages everyone to take their vaccines,” the ministry said. By any standards, the Guyana COVID-19 Vaccination programme has been successful so far. As of June 15, 2021, Guyana has vaccinated 223,659 persons (46 per cent of the adult population) with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines. Guyana has also fully vaccinated 92,157 persons (17 per cent of the adult population) against COVID-19. At this moment, Guyana is ranked as the country with the most vaccines in CARICOM, ahead of all countries in this region with populations above 600,000 people.

So far, Guyana has been able to secure vaccines from the following sources:
* COVAX – Guyana is a signatory in the COVAX agreement and has received so far 62,400 doses of Astra Zeneca Vaccine
* Barbados – Guyana received 3,000 doses of AstraZeneca as a donation from Barbados
* China – Guyana received 20,000 Sinopharm doses of vaccines as a donation from China
* India – Guyana received 80,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India. {Note that Guyana, in turn, donated 5,000 doses of this vaccine to Barbados].
* Guyana procured 400,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines from Dubai. [Note Guyana has received 305,000 doses of this so far. Guyana expects to receive 95,000 doses of Sputnik vaccines from this procurement to arrive in Guyana soon
* China – Guyana has procured 100,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines from China and expect to receive this shipment within the next two weeks.
* African Union/CARICOM Agreement – Guyana is part of an AU/CARICOM Agreement to purchase vaccines from the AU. In this procurement arrangement, Guyana is procuring 148,000 doses of vaccines. A portion of this will be made up of Johnson and Johnson vaccines.