President Irfaan Ali has announced that, in the next 5-7 days, Guyana can expect a shipment of second doses of the Russian-made Sputnik-V vaccines, even as it has been reported that thousands have been awaiting their second jab for quite some time.
“As of now, we’re expecting — based on what was told to us — in the next five to six days, they’re expecting a shipment from the suppliers,” the President said at a virtual press conference from New York on Friday. He did not disclose how many doses are to arrive in the shipment.
“Every night we are on the phone directly dealing with this, talking to the Ambassador of Russia, talking to Russia directly, talking to every stakeholder who can assist in this, and that is an important part of our agenda. So, within the next seven days, we expect to have a shipment of component two of Sputnik vaccine.”
The President said that Guyana is very fortunate as a high percentage of the world’s population have received very limited or no access to COVID-19 vaccines. Since the vaccines were developed, he highlighted that the Government has been working to acquire any available vaccines for its people, but this effort takes time.
In a COVID-19 update this month, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, assured that people awaiting their second dose of Sputnik-V can wait up to 180 days or six months for the vaccine to be administered without harm.
“I would encourage people to continue to get their first dose because, we are going to address this, everybody who took the first dose would be able to get their second,” he assured.
Russia’s vaccine roll-out involves giving people the second dose of Sputnik V after 21 days.
