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 Bhutan, nestled between India and China, has one of the world's
lowest COVID-19 fatality counts, with just one person dying from the
infectious disease since the pandemic began.
Prime Minister Lotay Tshering - who is also a practicing urologist -
said over 90% of the country's eligible population had received a
first dose of AstraZeneca's COVID-19vaccine and that the deadline to
administer the second dose after a gap of 12 weeks was scheduled to
end this month.
"Knowing immunology, knowing how our body reacts to vaccines, I am
comfortable to secure a second dose of any vaccine that is, of
course, approved by the WHO."
Earlier this year India provided 550,000 doses of the AstraZeneca
vaccine to Bhutan. But New Delhi has no surplus now to give to any
nation as India exits the worst of a deadly wave of the coronavirus
that doubled its death toll in two months.
Tshering said he has reached out to 17 other nations to secure fresh
vaccine supplies and delays in procuring the second batch of
AstraZeneca vaccine have made Bhutan's political leader consider
mixing doses.
Several countries, including Canada and Spain, have alreadyapproved
mixing doses, mainly due to concerns about rare andpotentially fatal
blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
A Spanish study found that giving a dose of the Pfizer shot to
people who had already received the AstraZeneca vaccine is highly
safe and effective, according to preliminary results.
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Tshering, 53, said preventing more deaths requires ongoing vigilance
since Bhutan shares a porous border with India, which continues to
report a high number of daily COVID-19 cases.
"I have no problem in giving Moderna or Pfizer for the second dose
... We have reached out to those companies," he told Reuters during
a virtual interview from his hotel room in the capital city of
Thimphu.
"There are no countries that don't face vaccine problems ... I will
have to be frank with my people," he said, speaking about mixing
doses and the shortage of supplies.
Tshering, who has been quarantining after his trip with the king to
remote parts of the mountain nation to meet frontline workers, said
he would be "the happiest person" to take a second dose of any
vaccine.
On Wednesday, Bhutan reported seven new cases in the past 24 hours,
taking its total to 1,970 COVID-19 cases.
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma and Rupam Jain; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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