[UPDATED] VACCINE SQUEEZE

The Prime Minister used the local saying, “Who have corn feed their fowl and who have more corn feed more fowl,” to describe problems with the distribution of covid19 vaccines, as he complained that smaller countries were being blanked for bigger countries with more bargaining power.

Dr Rowley said this has led to difficulty in pinning down a supply of the covid19 vaccine through the Covax facility, which TT and other Caricom states joined in August last year.

“What we were experiencing is, if you were a small purchaser, you were not even listened to or entertained by suppliers who were out there under the control of the bigger, more powerful countries,” Dr Rowley said during the virtual Ministry of Health press conference on Monday.

He explained that Caricom states, including TT, were among more than 100 countries which signed on to Covax last year. The arrangement was that countries would pay up front to fund research to develop the vaccine. TT made a US$1.477 million (TT$10 million) down payment.

When the vaccine was then developed and approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), these countries were supposed to be able to access a number of vaccines in relation to the size of their populations.

“But by January, when some confirmations were had that some vaccines were approved, what was happening was that the path toward accessing vaccines for countries like ours was not clear – or not there at all,” Rowley said.

The Government expected to receive between 100,000 and 120,000 vaccine doses through Covax, to inoculate 50,000 people in two doses. They were expected to begin arriving this month.

In a press conference hosted by WHO last Thursday, Rowley, as chairman of Caricom, expressed grave concern over the possibility of price-gouging, hoarding and preferential behaviour as the process of inoculating the world against the pandemic progressed.

“This being so, we in Caricom have recently called upon the WHO to immediately convene an international convention of the world’s peoples’ representatives to commiserate, explain, assist and commit to a fair sharing of the available vaccine resources for the benefit of all humankind,” Rowley said at the press conference.

At Thursday’s press conference, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke out against hoarding, price-gouging and preferential behaviour, saying that no country should be left behind when distributing the vaccine.

“Vaccine equity is important for many groups, especially small island states like those in the Pacific and Caribbean with small populations who can miss out because they have less bargaining power than bigger countries,” Ghebreyesus said. “Everywhere means everywhere. Nowhere should be left behind.”

Thus far, TT has received 2,000 doses as a gift from Barbados, which was given a batch of vaccines by the government of India.

Barbados, Rowley explained, sought assistance from India, as well as two other countries, in light of the difficulty in accessing vaccines through Covax, and a looming disaster in the form of an outbreak in its prison population and among police officers.

“That (outbreak) created a national-security situation for Barbados,” Rowley said. “In that scenario, against the background of what I mentioned concerning Caricom, Barbados went one step further, in the face of its looming calamity, to ask a number of the large countries whether they could help with an instant supply of vaccines.

“They approached three countries. India agreed to send an emergency supply to Barbados of 100,000 doses that could in fact deal with 50,000 people.”

Rowley added that the only other country which got assistance from India was Cuba.

Outside Covax there were very few means to access the vaccine, as supply has fallen short of demand.

Rowley said Caricom also sought assistance from the African Union, which agreed to assist Caricom countries when they got vaccines.

“We had to tell them how much we needed, and as I speak to you now, we have to pay to get from their stores when they get.”

TT, according to the Health Ministry’s roll-out plan, is expected to get 226,000 doses out of a Caricom allocation supplied by the African Medical Supply Platform (AMSP).

In addition, the ministry intended to ask for 250,000 vaccines from India, as well as having direct discussions with the companies that make the vaccines – Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and, once approval is granted, Johnson and Johnson.

Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh said, contrary to what was being said previously, TT always planned to accept vaccines from the Serum Institute of India, the lab manufacturing one brand of vaccine,Covishield, the local name for the the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.

“What WHO does is authorises not only the vaccine but the manufacturing plant. That (accepting vaccines from India) was always our intention,” Deyalsingh said.

This story was originally published with the title "Caricom blanked from access to covid19 vaccines" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

The Prime Minister has said smaller countries are being blanked by distributors of covid19 vaccines, in favour of larger countries making larger orders.

He was responding to claims that the TT government has been "tardy" in procuring covid19 vaccines.

“What we were experiencing is, if you were a small purchaser, you were not even listened to or entertained by suppliers who were out there under the control of the bigger, more powerful countries,” Dr Rowley said during the virtual Ministry of Health press conference on Monday.

Rowley explained that Caricom states including TT, were among more than 100 countries which signed on to the Covax facility last year. He said the arrangement was that countries would pay up front to fund research to develop the vaccine. When the vaccine had been developed and was then approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), these countries would have access to a number of vaccines in relation to the size of the population.

But instead, said Rowley, "By January, when some confirmations were had that some vaccines were approved, what was happening was that the path toward accessing vaccines for countries like ours was not clear, or not there at all.”

Government expected to receive 100,000 vaccines through Covax, to inoculate 50,000 people in two doses.

Thus far, TT has received 2,000 doses as a gift from Barbados, which received vaccines as a gift from India.

Rowley said Caricom states also sought out vaccines separately from Covax, one of which was through the African Medical Supplies Platform (AMPS), which was arranged in part to buy certified medical equipment.

Rowley said through the AMSP, vaccines became available for procurement from January 18.