Authorities still to decide on how to use 1500 COVID vaccines

Health authorities are still to decide whether they will withhold vaccines from the initial set to be used as a second dose for frontline workers or to inoculate another 1500 with the first shot.

This was stated by Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, during his daily

COVID-19 update. Since the minister had mentioned on Tuesday that the initial tranche of 3,000 vaccines received from Barbados could possibly be exhausted, Stabroek News during the update asked whether 1,500 doses would be kept to be used as the second dose.

Anthony responded that upon receiving the 3,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Barbados the authorities were aware that there were two options available in terms of administering the doses.

“We can administer 1,500 doses as the first dose and then keep back another 1,500 as the booster dose and that we will have to administer that three months from now, so we will make that decision as to whether we will keep those 1,500 doses” he said. The minister added that because of the arrangements currently in place, Guyana will be receiving more AstraZeneca vaccines which should be here by the end of the month.

To this end he stated, “We can do the 3,000 doses now and then when persons need their booster we will have the AstraZeneca vaccines to be able to give it to them that booster dose.” He noted that he would have to reach out to the technical personnel to ascertain what decision should be made.

Dr Anthony explained that there was nothing wrong with using different batches of a vaccine from the same manufacturer to provide persons with their doses. “In this case we are using AstraZeneca vaccines that has been manufactured by the Serum Institute of India so there’s a standard way that these vaccines are put together and so forth so if you use from batch one Then you don’t have to keep the second dose from batch one to administer it three months after.”

The health minister informed that using two vaccines from different manufacturers is however, not permitted. Clinical trials he said are ongoing to determine what the implications of interchanging vaccines could be.

When asked about the storage of the vaccines here, the minister noted that works are almost complete on several vaccine storage sites. He mentioned that physical work has been ongoing on 14 sites across the country and some have so far been completed with specific mention made of Region Two. “By the end of this week, we should be substantially complete with the 14 sites that we’re working on.”

Anthony emphasised that those sites will enable regional storage of the vaccines and apart from the physical space, the relevant refrigerators will be acquired so as to expand the country’s vaccination storage capacity in various areas.