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'Guyana is not a real place'!

(Trinidad Express) Vaccine availability remains a hindrance to the Caribbean’s vaccination progress and may prolong the length of the pandemic.

This according to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley who spoke at a COVID-19 news briefing on Saturday afternoon.


“We want to purchase vaccines but they are not available to us.” he said, after announcing a State of Emergency to address surging virus cases and deaths.

The Prime Minister indicated that the country remains willing to use funds to purchase vaccines when supply is regularized. However, he said, vaccine availability remains an issue within the Caricom region. No Caribbean country, he said, has been able to use its private sector to purchase vaccines.

“None of these Caricom countries have been able to use their private sector to go out and buy a single vaccine dose for them. Not Trinidad and Tobago, not Jamaica, not Belize, not anybody in the Caricom because vaccines are not available for purchase…It is not that we have the vaccines and we are not using it, it is that the vaccines are available and we are not getting it. The availability of vaccines is part of the problems of response. Not only for us,” he said.


He said that conversations with countries such as the United States to acquire vaccines are underway. However, he said the US policy on vaccine distribution is currently that its own population must be satiated before it contributes to other countries.

Responding to critics who attributed rising cases to an availability of vaccines, he outlined vaccination figures for multiple countries.

Colonial territories which observed high levels of vaccinations, such as Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Montserrat, he said, are covered by countries like the United Kingdom.


“Territories like Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat are British colonies and in terms of receiving vaccines they are part of the British support and supply system. So, you will see that Anguilla would have got 10,000 vaccines available and you may say well how could Anguilla have 10,000 but Trinidad only has 60,000. Well, that 10,000 comes to Anguilla from England. Montserrat would have had 5000 vaccines and administered 2000 but Montserrat only has three and a half thousand people and they would have gotten their vaccines early o’clock from Britain,” he said.

Outside of this, he said, the majority of vaccines sent to the Caribbean were those gifted by other countries such as India. The size of these gifts, he said, were entirely the decision of the Indian Government. Without these gifts from India, he said, Caribbean countries would have not received a single vaccine up to April.

Between the months of February and April, he said, the second incoming of vaccines to the Caribbean territories were from the COVAX facility. The number of vaccines delivered through COVAX, he said, was not in accordance with population sizes. He said that he suspects the number of vaccines delivered to Trinidad was affected by its initially low caseload.


“This is interesting, you will see that Barbados would have gotten 33,000 same as Trinidad and Tobago even though Trinidad and Tobago’s population is three times that of Barbados. Jamaica would have got from the first COVAX 14,000 even though Jamaica’s population is twice Trinidad and Tobago’s. Interestingly enough Jamaica just about that same time had gotten 75,000 vaccines from South Africa because South Africa has shut down the use of AstraZeneca vaccines because of their variant situation and they had a few vaccines that were expiring and they gave Jamaica 75,000 of that.”

“… It is my view that Trinidad and Tobago is categorized in that way in the Americas because at the time when the decision was being made our COVID problem was not as bad as it is now. It was much better so we were actually being categorized to only get in this tranche the same amount as Antigua, or as Barbados or as Belize even though we had a larger population,” he said.

Outside of these arrangements, he said the only other vaccines brought into the Caribbean region were those not approved by the WHO.

“The only other vaccines that have been available to Caricom people in Guyana contrary to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago that decided that we were only going to use WHO approved vaccines, Guyana decided for reasons best known to them that they will use Sinopharm from China and Sputnik from Russia long before the WHO approved it and of course Guyana used 40,000 vaccines of that nature. They were the only Caricom countries outside of Dominica which also used 20,000 Sinopharm and St Vincent got Sputnik. We stayed with our policy of WHO approved vaccines,” he said.

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2...cines-to-buy-or-beg/

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I don't see why a senior health minister in Guyana, a man trained at Moscow State (the top one...not Patrice Lumumba), should listen to Rowley? Is he an MD or a public health specialist? Rowley has a politician as Minister of Health. What do they know? Seriously? There was enough data saying the vaccines were effective, but not at the level of the American ones. Yes, obviously Jagdeo likes to do business with these shady characters. But I feel they did the right thing by getting the vaccines early. Not supporting going through a shady middle man or paying a 100% markup. Other third worlders used the same middle man, who is obviously a crook.

Moscow State is a superior school to anything they have in TT, by the way.

FM

And while we are at it TT and Belize are two of CARICOM's corrupt systems, probably up there with Guyana. Barbados and Jamaica definitely have more accountable governments. If ya'all think ethnic patronage is bad in Guyana, study TT lil more. Aluh will be surprise.

FM
@Former Member posted:

I don't see why a senior health minister in Guyana, a man trained at Moscow State (the top one...not Patrice Lumumba), should listen to Rowley? Is he an MD or a public health specialist?

The Moscow State health minister got a vaccine that was not approved by WHO. That is sheer recklessness, and that is the point. They may have been well intentioned and even if they overpaid no one would hold it against them  since it was to save lives.

But the bungling fools got something that was not approved by WHO and now tantee Merle and Mamoo might be walking around with water in their veins thinking they had a vaccine. I tell you - these people are chupid no ass.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
@Former Member posted:

I don't see why a senior health minister in Guyana, a man trained at Moscow State (the top one...not Patrice Lumumba), should listen to Rowley? Is he an MD or a public health specialist? Rowley has a politician as Minister of Health. What do they know? Seriously?

A case of shoot the messenger, huh?

How the hell they can be so reckless with people's lives. Who knows what was injecting into some people's bodies with vaccines sourced from fraudsters. That is the point!

Further, the politicians in Guyana had AstraZeneca available to them (they were among the first in the country to be vaccinated) which was properly sourced.

Today some Guyanese will be waking up to this reality wondering if they are protected from covid-19 after taking the vaccine, and more importantly, what was in their bodies. Is it any wonder that many in the population are cynical about taking the vaccine - they are right to be.

It took a politician from another country to expose the underhand, reckless, corrupt practices of the Guyana Minister of Health. He should be prosecuted for this.

Keep skinning yuh teeth bai

Django, am l wrong to quote a source in the title of a thread and provide a link to that source? I used an extract from the report because l know the 'tranches' here wouldn't want to read the whole report for obvious reasons.

S
@Spugum posted:

A case of shoot the messenger, huh?

Keep skinning yuh teeth bai

Django, am l wrong to quote a source in the title of a thread and provide a link to that source? I used an extract from the report because l know the 'tranches' here wouldn't want to read the whole report for obvious reasons.

Oh Skites! Rowie yuh back on GNI bai. How come yuh suh quiet? He he...

FM
@Spugum posted:

Django, am l wrong to quote a source in the title of a thread and provide a link to that source? I used an extract from the report because l know the 'tranches' here wouldn't want to read the whole report for obvious reasons.

When articles are taken from media sources ,it's desirable the topic headings be the same of the articles . On the other hand heading can be chosen ,when the article is written by the poster.

Django
@Spugum posted:

“The only other vaccines that have been available to Caricom people in Guyana contrary to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago that decided that we were only going to use WHO approved vaccines, Guyana decided for reasons best known to them that they will use Sinopharm from China and Sputnik from Russia long before the WHO approved it and of course Guyana used 40,000 vaccines of that nature. They were the only Caricom countries outside of Dominica which also used 20,000 Sinopharm and St Vincent got Sputnik. We stayed with our policy of WHO approved vaccines,” he said.

https://www.stabroeknews.com/2...cines-to-buy-or-beg/

I think it is absolutely valid for the opposition and the press to push the government for the diligence they completed when selecting the vaccines. However I not sure leaders should depend on WHO as the organization on which to base their nation's healthcare decision. Since the start of this pandemic WHO has proven itself to be a politicized organization which lacked the capability to react fast enough to the impending disaster. It is up to countries to employ their own resources in order to take care of their people's health in a timely manner.

L

^ WHO took a credibility hit in this crisis. The Wuhan lab leak and other matters...let's hope they clear things up since the world needs a credible WHO. That is precisely why I made the point that Frank Anthony is a very competent doctor and was justified in making the call and buying the vaccine. The unfortunate matter is the PPP has a faction of crab dancers. One will always get nuff, nuff mud on he skin when he dances with de crab faction of PPP. In typical hustler style, the source a FRACTION of the vaccines from an international Arabian crook.

FM
Last edited by Former Member

Having been in lockdown for more than a year and absorbing as much information on COVID as possible one must conclude that it is elementary reasoning that by definition individual nations cannot effectively fight a pandemic.  Instead of embracing that idea Trump moved to illegally withdraw the US from the WHO.  A second observation is that not all doctors are experts on the pandemic.  Some of them know less than people watching CNN.  The real experts are scientists--biologists, chemists, physicists etc. 

T

We have no facility in Guyana to test these vaccines to see if we are buying what we think we are. So it begs the question; without WHO's approval  how do we know what we are vaccinating the population with?

The "competent" Health Minister has stated recently that no-one fully vaccinated has died from covid. Many people are starting to say otherwise

S
@Spugum posted:

We have no facility in Guyana to test these vaccines to see if we are buying what we think we are. So it begs the question; without WHO's approval  how do we know what we are vaccinating the population with?

WHO is a political organization. Their approval counts for nothing.
What is important is that the vaccine supplies come from the country that they were made in. My worry with the Chinese vaccine is that users could end up with split eyes.

Mr.T
@Mr.T posted:

WHO is a political organization. Their approval counts for nothing.
What is important is that the vaccine supplies come from the country that they were made in. My worry with the Chinese vaccine is that users could end up with split eyes.

All organisations are political so what's your point?

To take a position not to be political is political in itself

If you think WHO's approval counts for nothing then that's your opinion. Others don't share that, clearly

S
@Spugum posted:

All organisations are political so what's your point?

To take a position not to be political is political in itself

If you think WHO's approval counts for nothing then that's your opinion. Others don't share that, clearly

The same people now saying that the WHO is irrelevant here are the very same people who were castigating Trump for pulling out of the WHO. Shameless hypocrites.

I understand they might have had to overpay a bit because of being a 3rd world nation fighting to get vaccines. But there is the appearance of impropriety all over this one. They deliberately sidestepped their friends the Chinese who were cheaper and picked a vaccine that was not sanctioned by the WHO. Why?

The Norse, the Sheik, the Minister and the money. Makings of a movie.

FM

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