Guyana to get 149,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from African Union/CARICOM

Under the African Union/CARICOM vaccine agreement, Guyana is expected to receive an additional 149,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony told the National Assembly on Thursday.

Guyana has already secured a donation of 22,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China and another 104,000 does of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX facility.

Dr Anthony, who was at the time responding to questions from former Public Health Minister, Dr Karen Cummings, said Guyana’s doses are part of the 1.5 million doses promised to the Caribbean through an agreement with the African Union.

Dr Anthony did not say which one of the authorised vaccines Guyana will receive through this agreement. Clinical trials have pegged the Sinopharm vaccine as 79.3 per cent effective while AstraZeneca is seen as 66 per cent effective.

Guyana continues to push to ensure that it has enough vaccines to cater to the category of frontline workers, elderly persons and persons with comorbidities.  These categories of persons will first be offered vaccines when it comes to Guyana, according to the government’s deployment plan.

Dr Anthony said some 22,000 persons are frontline workers with an even larger number of persons making up the elderly and persons with comorbidities. He said Guyana is making other arrangements to acquire vaccines; in addition to China, Guyana is also in talks with Indian and Russia on sourcing COVID-19 vaccines.