Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, says Guyana will receive its third shipment of the Sputnik V vaccine next week, further strengthening the country’s fight against COVID-19. Some 60,000 doses are expected.
Guyana is also expecting an additional 38, 000 doses of vaccines through the COVAX facility, which is working to ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines worldwide.
“Next week we are expecting a shipment of vaccines, ones that we bought, expecting more Sputnik V to come in next week. We are also expecting, if all goes well, another shipment of vaccines from COVAX, but we are awaiting the final date for that.
For Sputnik V, we are looking at about 60,000 doses, and for COVAX, we’re looking at 38, 000 doses,” Minister Anthony said during Friday’s COVID-19 update.
Guyana received its first consignment of 25,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia on April 2, 2021. This was followed by another shipment of 30,000 doses on April 12.
The quantities of vaccines are part of the 200,000 doses the Government purchased from the Government of Russia. In an earlier interview, Minister Anthony indicated that the two-dose vaccine would be shipped to Guyana at an interval of three weeks between first and second doses.
The Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) have confirmed that the Sputnik V vaccine is 97.6 per cent effective against COVID-19. This is based on the analysis of data on disease infection rate among people receiving both shots of the vaccine.
So far, Sputnik V has been approved for use in 60 countries, and is positioned as second among COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, in terms of approvals issued by various regulators.
Guyana has also previously received vaccines from Barbados, India, China and through COVAX.
