Guinea began vaccination of its population with Sputnik V on Wednesday, 30 December 2020. This vaccination against the novel coronavirus is experimental. Two million doses of this Russian vaccine will be delivered to the central power of Conakry by Moscow. The first injections will involve a reduced number of volunteers.
The Guinean Minister of Defence, Mohamed Diané, is the first to receive his dose. Note that he is a scientist by training. “I come to show the people of Guinea, the people of Guinea, the example and the determination of the government to fight effectively against the pandemic. This is a process that is beginning, it will continue, we will expand to the entire Guinean population so that all those who want to be vaccinated are vaccinated,” he said.
The Sputnik V vaccine was developed by the Russian National Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology Gamalaïa. A vaccine that according to the press release of the Russian Sovereign Fund RDIF and the research institute Gamalaïa is more effective than that of Pfizer used in England since 8 December, in France on 30 December, in the United States, in Canada, in Singapore and in Bahrain.According to the press release, the Pfizer vaccine is 90% effective while the Russians claim 92% for their Sputnik vaccine, in phase 3 for the moment. Russian President Vladimir Putin himself intervened to praise the merits of the vaccine, explaining that it was effective in the case of his daughter. The Russians use their vaccine and the Chinese use their own vaccine as well.
After this pilot phase, the Guinean authorities will decide whether or not to extend vaccination on a large scale. The first objective is to contain the disease and prevent its spread. A virus that has had a negative impact on the country’s economy.Less devastating from a health perspective, Covid-19 is very violent from an economic perspective. The country’s GDP growth is expected to slow to 2.9% in 2020. This start of vaccination thus sounds like a note of hope for the normal resumption of commercial and economic activities.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, many political figures have succumbed to this deadly disease. Guinea reported more than 13,000 cases of contamination and 80 deaths.
