Health Ministry urges persons to take 2nd dose AstraZeneca, Sinopharm

…says Sputnik V vaccines shipment within timetable

As health authorities continue with the COVID-19 vaccination exercise across the country, the Health Ministry has disclosed that second doses of the Sputnik V vaccine are unavailable along with first doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford and Sinopharm vaccines.
On Thursday evening, the Ministry said only first doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V jab are currently available. Additionally, only second doses of the AstraZeneca and the Chinese-made Sinopharm are presently available.
“Currently, all sites have in stock the Sputnik V first dose available for vaccination. Sputnik V second dose can be administered between 4 to 12 weeks. However, we currently have a delay in our supplies. A further shipment of Sputnik V first-dose and second-dose vaccines will arrive in Guyana soon,” the Ministry noted.
In a statement, it went on to say that the Guyana Government was awaiting shipment information, and would advise the public as soon as the Ministry received the details.
With regard to the other two jabs, the Health Ministry said: “AstraZeneca and Sinopharm are no longer available for the first dose. But everyone who has received their first dose will get their second dose. These doses are currently available.”
Like Sputnik, AstraZeneca has a 4 to 12-week interval between doses, but persons are advised to take their second shot at 12 weeks. For the Sinopharm jab, the second dose can be taken after four weeks of receiving the first shot.
To date, Guyana has received just over 205,000 doses of the Sputnik V jab. Initially, Government had bought 400,000 doses, enough to immunise 200,000 persons, at the cost of US$4 million. However, it was recently announced that another 400,000 doses of the COVID-19 jab from Russia were being procured.
The country also benefited from donations of 83,000 AstraZeneca jabs – 80,000 and 3000 from the Governments of India and Barbados, respectively – and 20,000 Sinopharm from the Chinese Government. Additionally, Guyana has received some 62,400 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX facility.
While the AstraZeneca and the Sinopharm vaccines use the same dose in the first and second shots, the second dose of the Sputnik V vaccine is a different component than the first dose.
Speaking with Guyana Times on Thursday evening, Health Advisor, Dr Leslie Ramsammy explained that while Guyana had bought, in the first instance, 200,000 doses of the Sputnik V component 1 and a corresponding 200,000 doses of the component 2, the shipments did not carry the same quantity hence the unavailability of the second dose.
“We’re getting both doses in each shipment, but different quantities because the focus initially was on [administering] the component 1 and they mixed it with some dose 2 when the shipment comes in. So our next shipment will have a number of dose 1 and a number of dose 2… We were expecting another shipment last week, but that’s been delayed a little. So, it could be that it’s coming anytime now,” Dr Ramsammy stated.
Of the 205,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine received, some 141,000 doses were component 1 and the remaining were component 2.
The Health Advisor noted that the second set of 400,000 doses of the Russian-made jab, which Guyana has already paid another US$4 million for, will also come in batches with a mixture of both components 1 and 2.

Vaccination figures
Since rolling out its vaccination exercise in February 2021, Guyana has so far immunised some 191,151 persons with their first dose, which represents 39.3 per cent of the country’s adult population. The number of fully immunised persons currently stands at 62,610, accounting for 12.9 per cent of persons eligible for the vaccine.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony reported on Thursday that the second drive-through vaccination exercise at the National Stadium was successful despite inclement weather. This time around, more than 1000 persons again turned up for first and second doses.
“People came out in their numbers. At no time did we have any space in between. There was a constant flow of people and I think that’s good. We’re encouraged by the response and this is something that certainly the team would be reviewing and we probably would have many of these at the Stadium. We’ll also be working with the various regions to see whether there is the possibility to do similar things in the various regions,” he shared.
A smaller version of this exercise was recently rolled out in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), and also saw success.
“It really offers a lot of convenience because you drive up, you’re in your car, you fill out the questionnaire and then you go get your vaccines. It’s a really simple process, so we have to keep working on this. If this is one way that people are going to come out, well, then we’ll be willing to facilitate it.”
Vaccination numbers are growing in the country, with 191,151 persons receiving their first dose or 39.3 per cent of Guyana’s adult population. The number of completely immunised persons currently stands at 62,610, accounting for 12.9 per cent of persons eligible for the vaccine.

President’s plea
President Irfaan Ali has made an earnest plea to all Guyanese to actively participate in COVID-19 preventative measures, which have been instituted for their protection.
During his Independence Day address to the nation on Tuesday, he pointed towards the thousands of infections and hundreds of deaths brought on by COVID-19 in Guyana. The length of this battle against the dreaded virus, he added, depends on how soon each citizen is fully vaccinated, which will enable the nation to return to a normal life.
“Let us get vaccinated, let us take each other and get vaccinated, so that we can return to normalcy as fast as possible. I urge that we all recognise the value to our own lives, to the lives of our family and friends, to our livelihoods, and to the betterment of our country by vaccinating to defeat the coronavirus, as we have defeated so many others in the past,” the Head of State implored.
The President added that to date, 20 per cent of Guyanese have been vaccinated, which is a “significant accomplishment” in a world where less than one per cent of the people in developing countries have access to vaccines.
“We have already purchased thousands of vaccines, and we are sparing no expense in ensuring that we have enough vaccines to cover our full population – 18 years and above. Our objective is to ensure that we can inoculate everyone from this dreadful virus.”