Health Minister estimates arrival of vaccines not before second quarter

Guyana could receive COVID-19 vaccines in the second quarter of the year, according to the Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony. The Minister said that Guyana can see the arrivals sometime between April and June, however, a Health Ministry spokesman told Kaieteur News Thursday that is the Minister’s estimation.

His announcement was made on Monday during his appearance on the BeatThe-Clock morning programme on News-Talk Radio 103.1 FM. Dr. Anthony said that Guyana could receive the first batch of vaccines during the given time frame, but the government is not sure which of the COVID-19 vaccines will be received first.

This, he disclosed, is because the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility which Guyana is accessing vaccines through has not indicated which of the vaccines will be provided first. The COVAX Facility, which includes organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and GAVI – the Vaccine Alliance. COVAX was created in April with the aim of ensuring lowerincome countries acquire vaccines for at least 20 percent of their population.

“We don’t know which one we would eventually get but whatever you get will depend also on your readiness, so that’s why we are preparing our cold chain to take in any one the vaccines ranging from the -70 degrees right up to +8 degrees,” the Minister said during his interview. Notably, the Ministry of Health has been preparing cold storage facilities for the vaccines since December last year. Dr. Anthony had stated that the facilities will be ready by mid-January this year.

The storage facilities needed to be established since the vaccines have specific storage temperature requirements.

So far Guyana is set to be in receipt of two types of vaccines; the Moderna vaccine and the PfizerBioNtech vaccine from two US drug companies. It was stated that the Moderna vaccine could be stored in a standard refrigerator with temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (36 degrees to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for a period of 30 days. But, the Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at very cold temperatures of minus 70 to 80 degrees which requires cold storage freezers that the Ministry has made steps to procure.

(Kaieteur News)