As the Government forges ahead with its vaccination policy, it continues to dodge questions surrounding the unavailability of Sputnik 2nd dose vaccines to complete the full vaccination of persons who have already received the first dose.

Although it paid more than the suggested price for the Sputnik vaccines in advance through the services of a middle man, a shortage of the 2nd dose shots has been dogging the vaccination rollout for months.

Despite the shortage of those 2nd doses, the Ministry of Health continues to administer the first dose, adding hundreds more to the already long line of persons awaiting their 2nd dose shots.

News Source has been able to confirm that as of Thursday, the Ministry of Health had administered 170, 679 first doses of the Sputnik vaccine.

A total of 88,679 persons have received the 2nd dose so far. The total number of persons still to get a 2nd dose of the Russian-made vaccine now stands at 82,000, with the Ministry of Health unsure of when it will receive another shipment of the 2nd dose shots.

While over 200,000 first doses of the vaccine have been supplied to Guyana, less than 100,000 of the 2nd dose shots have been supplied. In the past two months, there has been a supply of very small number of the 2nd dose shots which would be administered within days.

As it is now, there are thousands of persons who received their first dose of the vaccine as far back as May and June who are still to receive the 2nd dose.

Unlike the other Coronavirus vaccines, Sputnik uses two completely different vaccines as the first and second shots. It is also the vaccine that has been administered the most across Guyana.

There are three other vaccines being administered to adults in Guyana.

Medical officials who spoke to News Source on the condition of anonimiy said they are stressed and have been expressing growing concern about the long delay in the arrival of Sputnik 2nd doses to get persons fully vaccinated.

One senior official said enough is not being done to hold the supplier’s feet to the fire to ensure 2nd dose shots are made available in larger quantities to clear the backlog.

“This has been ongoing for months and this itself is creating vaccine hesitancy because now people are not sure about getting the 2nd dose in time”, the official said.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony has repeatedly stated that both shots are needed for someone to be fully protected against the virus, but he has not indicated whether the government has been seeking to address the fallout over the delay in the supply.

Many partially vaccinated persons have complained about being turned away from the Ministry of Health and the vaccination sites across the country when they show up for their second dose shots, because of its unavailability.

A former Chief Magistrate who passed away recently after he contracted the virus, was turned away twice when he showed up for his 2nd dose of Sputnik in the weeks leading up to his death.

His family said although he received the first dose in May, up to the time of his death in late August, he was still unable to get a second dose and did not have adequate protection against contracting the virus.

A number of other countries have also expressed concern about the shortage in Sputnik 2nd dose shots.

The Government of India refused a shipment of first doses from the manufacturer because there was no delivery of the 2nd dose at the same time.

The Government of Guyana has already faced some criticism over purchasing the vaccine at more than double the cost from a middleman, who now continues to fail to complete the supply of needed doses in a timely manner.

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