Latest update December 22nd, 2024 2:50 AM

Guyana's largest selling daily and New York's most popular weekly

Latest News

Health Ministry receives fresh batch of H1N1 vaccines

May 28, 2010 News

“There is always somebody to be blamed and we know who is to be blamed,” Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy asserted yesterday, even as he commented on the H1N1 vaccines that were found to be compromised.
Although not entirely the fault of officials within the Ministry, the Minister did note that an individual has been found to have had some level of culpability in the state of affairs. That person, he confirmed, has since been sent on leave and the Ministry is yet to determine if further action will be necessary.
“We all have responsibility…and I am not saying that people do things deliberately because they want to do bad things…The person who should have been there decided that she had other important things to do and left junior officers to take care of it.”
The resulting situation, according to the Minister, is that the vaccines had been compromised due to the fact that they were refrigerated at an inappropriate time.
He underscored that whenever such situations arise there is always the question of potency.
“We have to make sure that our vaccines are 100 percent potent, and here in Guyana anytime that something happens that is not in compliance with all of the recommendations, we move to replace the vaccines. Maybe in a previous year, or in another country, people would say it is a minor thing and chances would have been taken, but we were not about to do so…”
But even if there was no concern about the refrigeration time of the vaccines, the Minister revealed that the Ministry had other apprehensions, which were related to the fact that the batch arrived with a slight variation in the temperature.
According to Ramsammy, from the time that the vaccines leave the manufacturer there is a monitoring of the temperature and once the vaccines’ temperature is not in sync with the recommended temperature, it is the stance of the Ministry not to utilise them.
“In this case there was variation in the recommended temperature on arrival…not much, and not for a long period and that had nothing to do with anybody’s negligence, but in keeping with our policy we would have sent it back anyway.”
The Ministry of Health has since requested and as of yesterday was in receipt of a new batch of the vaccines, which comes compliments of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The minister highlighted, though, that not every country is lucky to receive vaccines within an hour from the manufacturing site, stressing that “in our case we don’t have flights that come directly to us from Europe or wherever, so there will be storage at different places.
So it comes with particular storage and temperature monitoring and on arrival there was a light variation.”
“Globally we recognise these issues and there has never been a problem in replacing any vaccine that may have a question mark. And that is exactly what has happened in this case, this batch had a question mark,” he insisted.
An initial batch of the vaccines had arrived in Guyana during the latter part of March, and some 60,000 doses have already been dispensed, according to the Minister.
He revealed that currently the Ministry is using a model of a single-dose per person although some countries have been utilising a two-dose model.
The Minister had revealed to this newspaper that he had been able to negotiate with the WHO to donate the H1N1 vaccines, valued in the millions, free of cost to Guyana.
So far some 300,000 doses have been assured of which 200,000 have already arrived. He said another 100,000 would be sent as the need arises.

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | December, 2nd, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

 

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Chase Academy squares off with St Benedict’s College ahead of today’s final

Chase Academy squares off with St Benedict’s College ahead of...

Dec 22, 2024

-Petra-KFC Goodwill Int’l Series concludes day at MoE Kaieteur Sports- The two main contenders in the KFC International Under-18 Secondary Schools Goodwill Football Series faced off yesterday ahead...
Read More
Cliff Anderson Sports Hall to showcase Dharry/Allicock fight-card

Cliff Anderson Sports Hall to showcase...

Dec 22, 2024

Topp XX, Winners Connection advance to last eight, Botafago crush Net Rockers 9-4

Topp XX, Winners Connection advance to last...

Dec 22, 2024

Regal Stationery onboard with inaugural One Guyana Berbice Softball Cup

Regal Stationery onboard with inaugural One...

Dec 22, 2024

Power outage disrupts Thursday night play; 8 matches slated for tonight

Power outage disrupts Thursday night play; 8...

Dec 22, 2024

Dookie XI overcome North Soesdyke by five wickets in T20 fixture

Dookie XI overcome North Soesdyke by five wickets...

Dec 22, 2024

Features/Columnists

  • Policy-making by neglect

    Peeping Tom…  Kaieteur News- The ease with which Bharrat Jagdeo, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party... more

Publisher’s Note

Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.

Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]