Where are the next set of COVID vaccines coming from?

With over 130,000 persons having received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and inoculations continuing, Guyana will soon need to receive a new supply so that it doesn’t have to use up the booster shoots.

International supply chains continue to be under stress particularly with the crisis in India having affected deliveries to the COVAX mechanism which Guyana and many other countries have been depending on.

During an interview yesterday with the Department of Public Information (DPI), Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony said 142,869 persons had received their first dose, while of that number, a total of 5,035 persons had received their second doses, making them fully vaccinated.

Guyana has received a total of 260,000 doses which means that a maximum number of 130,000 persons should be vaccinated to guarantee that they will have a second dose when their appointed time arrives. All of the vaccines that Guyana have received require two doses per person for full vaccination.

Guyana has received donations of 3,000 AstraZeneca vaccines from Barbados, 20,000 Sinopharm shots from China and 80,000 AstraZeneca vaccines from India. From the tranche donated by India, 5,000 doses were then donated to Barbados. The government had also received 55,000 doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines, followed by 24,000 doses of AstraZeneca from COVAX and subsequently another 83,000 doses of the Sputnik V.

Persons inoculated with Sinopharm are receiving their second shots as the requisite interval has arrived. This week, those who had received Sputnik V vaccines are expected to begin receiving their second dose as a four-week interval applies. Guyana has so far received 138,000 doses of Sputnik 5 and is expecting 62,000 more doses to fill out its purchase of 200,000 shots. Since these doses have to be administered within four weeks, there isn’t much room to delay shots and therefore only a maximum of 100,000 persons should receive Sputnik V and this is also dependent on the receipt of the 62,000 doses.

The authorities may have greater flexibility with the AstraZeneca doses as vaccines are administered eight to 12 weeks apart. A total of 102,000 of these doses have been received. Even so, those persons who received the initial doses from the Barbados donation would now be due for their second doses. With the Indian donation having arrived on March 7th, those vaccinated with this batch would probably not require their second shot until next month. It means that the authorities could utilise some of the AstraZeneca booster shots as first doses but it would mean that more AstraZeneca doses will have to be supplied soon.

There is no likelihood of sourcing more of these doses from India. Further, the World Health Organisation’s COVAX facility has also faced supply issues and there is no indication when more jabs might become available for Guyana.

In recent days, government officials have not said anything on where the next shipment is coming from and when.