SOURCE Pointe Xpress: As the race increases for COVID-19 vaccines around the world, Indian High Commissioner Dr K. J. Srinivasa announced that Guyana and several other Caribbean countries will benefit from an initial donation of 500,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines by the government of India, as the south Asian country ‘ups the ante’ on its vaccine-diplomacy efforts.
According to news reports in Guyana, “On Monday, during a virtual engagement with members of the media, Indian High Commissioner to Guyana and the Caribbean, Dr K. J. Srinivasa noted that a quantity of these vaccines are already being transported.”
“I am working closely for the number of vaccines for Guyana, Antigua, St Kitts and many other countries in the region,” Dr Srinivasa highlighted. Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister, Ambassador Lionel ‘Max’ Hurst, confirmed that 40,000 vaccines are designated for Antigua and Barbuda. According to the Chief of Staff, “The government of India wrote to the government of Antigua and Barbuda that they are pleased to send 40,000 Covishield (AstraZeneca-Oxford) vaccines to our country (manufactured by Serum Institute of India) as a donation and goodwill gesture to our friendly nation in the region.”
Media reports have indicated that currently, the High Commission is working with the local health authorities in Guyana to get approval for this Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is called Covishield in India.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is reportedly sixty-two per cent effective. However, it is also reportedly ninety per cent effective with a lower dose than the required two doses. The High Commissioner, who is also India’s representative to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said that India is trying to work out a common procedure whereby Caribbean countries can work in tandem for this approval process. While the 500,000 vaccines being donated to the Caribbean is just an initial amount, Dr Srinivasa emphasized that India wants to provide some support to all of the “friendly countries” in the region.
This, he explained, is a core component of India’s vaccine-diplomacy efforts. India is a renowned manufacturer of vaccines and has been dubbed the ‘pharmacy of the world.’
Beyond the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is being manufactured by the Serum Institute in India and is already being distributed in that country, there are about five other vaccines being developed in India.
The Covaxin vaccine, being manufactured by Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL), is one such vaccine. This vaccine has already been granted emergency-use authorization in India and is being distributed to health workers, though its clinical trials are not yet complete. Obtaining vaccines from this country is not limited to those doses being donated, however. There are also avenues for governments to purchase vaccines from India.
“Our external supplies which are either gifts or commercial supplies are based on our domestic requirements, but we continue to work closely with our partner countries and we are preparing a schedule [whereby] in the coming weeks and months in a phased manner, these countries will get their vaccines,” Dr Srinivasa said. The country has been donating several million vaccines to a number of countries as of this year.
Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Antigua!
We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages.
Contact us at [email protected]
Goodnew
What’s this my peeps 🤔 well let 40 000 take that, I’ll wait on the maderna of whatever, you know? The one the PM say he take, as you can see he is still alive right? I do appreciate the Indian gesture people but this is a “Better the Devil that I know, Than the Angel that I don’t” moment 😐
The Maderna Vaccine does not exists.LOL.However,I got my first shot of the Moderna Vaccine,I had no issues so far,so good.
But where is the proof that our PM actually took anything? 🧐🤔
WHY?? Because most of the 1st world has suspended using it, and cancelled their orders! Why? Because it does not work against the more aggressive South African Variant. We aren’t testing variant strands here in Antigua, so we don’t know what we are fighting, but most likely it is one of the new variants given how quickly this is suddenly spreading…
It is a disgrace that world powers are now lauding their generosity in providing much needed vaccines to the Caribbean…vaccines that they would otherwise be throwing away because they DO NOT WORK! I’m not an anti-vax’er, but we need a vaccine that will actually work. And if you jab reluctant Antiguans once with a useless vaccine, you will really struggle to get them to come for a 2nd or 3rd…only get one chance, one time, so do it right!
Just wondering if the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is competing with Pfizer and Moderna and has to be panned ? Anything is possible in this capitalist world. Give me the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine or Russian vaccine any day and leave my DNA alone. Should we be changing our bodies from what God created?
Do you know that the BioNTech vaccines will work? Some scientists are saying that people will have to vaccinated every year like the flu vaccines. Think of all the money that will be made by the capitalist.
Thankful for this donation.
PM is the Guinea Pig, so I will be monitoring him, then I will take the Maderna, Me no want no Indian vaccine
…
Moderna and Pfizer are in short supply as the US has it on lockdown.
A dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine cost US$3.00, the Moderna and Pfizer cost about US$66.00. Even the Russian sputnik vaccine is more expensive at US $7.50 per dose. Unfortunately the Pfizer and Moderna is not available to the the Caribbean as manufacture and supply is at present mostly concentrated on satisfying demand in the US and Europe.
“The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is reportedly sixty-two per cent effective. However, it is also reportedly ninety per cent effective with a lower dose than the required two doses”
? This doesn’t make sense to me.
Is it gobbledegook to support a political decision to deliver one shot when the vaccine was trialled & approved based on 2-shots?
Covid-19, like any virus, will mutate more and more. The UK strain has split into 3, named geographically within UK. Brazil & South African strains are likely mutating.
Other countries will have ‘rapid transmission’ variants in the weeks & months ahead.
WHO & others are aiming for vaccines that greatly reduced the likelihood of hospitalizations & death.
We may have a version of C-19, and the vaccines job initially is to keep that mild to asymptomatic, manageable domestically; moving eventually over the years, to repelling it & stopping inoculated people transmitting the disease – it seems that goals delivery is in the future.
Of course, that means mask wearing, distancing, sanitizing & reduced gathering sizes continue for the foreseeable future.
This is a pandemic and will take time for scientists, governments and us to get through.
BTW
” Source Pointe Xpress”
Utterly inappropriate.
This is national information & we are supposedly a democracy, therefore the information should originally come from ABS state media and the official social media sites of PM, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Then be further communicated by private media outlets.
Give me Sputnik V and forget all the others.
You might really be a Ghost if you take that .
India is busy securing Sputnik vaccine while giving away the oxford vaccine to third world countries
Has the government approached Russia for vaccines? Just asking. Let them go with their BioNTech vaccines and pray some guy is spreading misinformation and scare mongering about the world population shrinking by more than 50% by 2025.
Is this vaccine manufactured in India, approved by WHO and PAHO?
Make sure Mehul Choksi gets the shots from India first.
Dictator and traitor Gaston get to take the vaccine of his choice paid for by our tax dollars while he gives us the shit vaccines.
Keep on voting Dictator and traitor Gaston in and our country will continue to go down.
Where are Nigel Christian’s killers?
Where are Nigel Christian’s killers?
Where are Nigel Christian’s killers?
Where are Nigel Christian’s killers?
Comments are closed.