Guyana approves emergency use of vaccines from Russia, China

The Government Analyst Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) has granted emergency use approval of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and China’s Sinopharm vaccine.
This is according to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony, who explained during Wednesday’s COVID-19 update that one of the things vaccine makers want is to ensure that the countries where the vaccines are going grant permission for the use of the vaccine.
In the case of the Sputnik V vaccine, Dr Anthony disclosed that Guyana has been in discussions with the Russian manufacturers for weeks now.
“Those discussions have advanced, and we have been able, through our Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue an emergency use authorisation for these vaccines. We have also issued emergency use authorisation for the Sinopharm vaccines…,” he added.
The Health Minister went on to highlight the three methods authorities use before approving the vaccines for local use.
“The first is if the vaccine has been improved by what is called a stringent regulatory authority. So when we talk about stringent regulatory authorities, we are talking about the FDA in the United States, in Canada, in the UK, in Australia and in Europe…
“Once it has been approved by these authorities, then we would use the principle of reciprocity to be able to approve it here in Guyana,” he explained.
Another factor taken into consideration was whether the vaccine was approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). So far, the WHO has given emergency use approval to only two vaccines – the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.
However, the Health Minister explained that WHO is expected to soon approve the Sputnik V and Sinopharm vaccines. The respective manufacturers of both of these vaccines have already submitted the relevant documents to WHO for approval.
Meanwhile, the third method used by Guyana to approve the vaccines here is to see whether it has been approved by large countries in the South American and Caribbean region. With Sputnik V, it has already been given emergency use authorisation in Brazil and Argentina, as well as in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
According to Minister Anthony, Guyana is still finalising the arrangements for these vaccines to come here. The efficacy of the Sputnik V vaccine is 91.6 per cent and it is one of only three vaccines in the world with efficacy of over 90 per cent. The Sinopharm vaccine has an efficacy of 79.4 per cent.
Guyana has already granted emergency use approval for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine from India. A batch of 3000 AstraZeneca jabs was donated by the Government of Barbados, and it has already been used to vaccinate some 2000 frontline healthcare workers.
The AstraZeneca jab was developed by Oxford in the United Kingdom, and is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. The local name for the AstraZeneca vaccine in India is COVIDSHIELD.
India has already donated thousands of the AstraZeneca jabs to Guyana via a 500,000 doses’ pledge to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
According to a BBC report, no one who took the AstraZeneca jab has been hospitalised or seriously ill due to COVID. The article cited a recent study which it said found that a single dose of the Oxford vaccine offers 76 per cent protection for three months, this went up to 82 per cent after the second dose.
Only on Monday, Dr Anthony said that the Ministry would go ahead and administer all the vaccines donated by Barbados as the first dose, and await the arrival of follow-up vaccines to administer the second dose.
Meanwhile, Guyana is currently awaiting the arrival of another large batch of vaccines from the COVAX facility (co-led by WHO, UNICEF, GAVI – the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) which was established to ensure there is equal access to, and distribution of, COVID-19 vaccines when they become available on the market.
On Wednesday, it was announced that the first set of vaccines under the COVAX facility arrived in Ghana, Africa, and according to WHO, they are working closely with governments and manufacturers to ensure health workers and older people receive COVID-19 vaccines in all countries within the first 100 days of 2021. There are currently over 180 countries under the COVAX arrangement.
Guyana is among those countries that are eligible for COVID-19 vaccines at no cost, and Government has already assured that these would also be distributed to citizens free of cost.
While Guyana is expected to receive some 104,000 vaccines under this facility, Minister Singh has noted that this could cover about 25 to 30 per cent of the population.
He added that they would be having discussions soon with COVAX to finalise dates and timelines for the arrival of the vaccines here. (G8)