Government has been told it will get ten of thousands of doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine beginning from mid-February through the World Health Organization (WHO)’s COVAX coalition – enough that could possibly cover every elderly person on the island – Barbados TODAY has learned.
The Pan American Health Organization ( PAHO), the WHO agency for the Americas, said Monday that 36 countries in the hemisphere were informed by letter of the “estimated dose allocation for the first phase of vaccine delivery”.
Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson, the head of Barbados’ COVID-19 communications unit, confirmed to Barbados TODAY there were new developments regarding the country’s vaccination pursuits, but no further details were available up to the time of publication.
PAHO signalled its intention to assist with the vaccination of at least 20 per cent of participating countries’ total populations to protect those most at risk for severe forms of COVID-19.
No official figures were immediately available but the development would place the country in a position to receive a minimum of about 60,000 initial doses. A two-dose vaccine, the AstraZeneca vaccine would require 120,000 doses to fully protect one in five Barbadians.
Barbados has one of the highest proportions of older people, the group deemed most at risk from COVID-19, with 17 per cent of the population over the age of 55. About one-tenth of the population has reached or surpassed age 65.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh confirmed Monday that country has been allocated an initial 100,000 to 120,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which are to be delivered by March.
According to the PAHO statement, participating countries were required to make specific preparations to receive and then deploy the AstraZeneca jabs including provisions for storage to begin from the “second half of February through the second quarter” of this year.
According to Ambassador Thompson, at least three local sites are available to facilitate the sub-zero temperatures needed to store vaccines including the Pfizer/BioNTech brand, which requires minus-70-degree Celsius storage.
Also known as the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the jab can be stored in a normal fridge, making it much easier to distribute.
Research has shown the AstraZeneca jab to be highly effective. Developed from a weakened version of a common cold virus to mimic the coronavirus, the jab prompts the body to build its own resistance to coronavirus without causing illness.
No one given the vaccine has become seriously ill or needed hospitalisation for COVID, according to the latest clinical trials.
“It’s only the Pfizer vaccine that requires the extreme temperature and Barbados does have on island existing capacity to store the vaccines at those sub-zero temperatures, Ambassador Thompson told Barbados TODAY. “There are at least three locations at which we have capacity to store the vaccines, so if we can store Pfizer, we certainly have the capacity to store the others.”
But PAHO said the Pfizer drug is to be made available to four countries in the Americas out of 18 worldwide chosen by a WHO committee: Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, and Peru under a “First Wave” initiative.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mia Mottley signalled Government’s intention to vaccinate 60 to 70 per cent of the population to trigger ‘herd immunity’.
PAHO has estimated the Americas region will need to immunize approximately 500 million people to control the pandemic.
The COVAX Mechanism is a global WHO-led effort to speed equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and ensure that they reach all those who need to receive the jabs.
(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)
