by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): For the week of September 12 – 17, St. Kitts and Nevis recorded two additional COVID-19 related deaths at the start of the week.
Nine residents of the Federation have now succumbed to the coronavirus.
Additionally, the third wave continues, and 168 cases were confirmed during the six days, and the total recorded cases stand at 1,632. Although lower than last week’s 234 cases, still a high indication of community spread in the Federation.
Health officials are now monitoring 714 active cases within St. Kitts and Nevis.
In an address to the nation on Wednesday (Sept. 15), Minister with responsibility for health, Hon. Akilah Byron Nisbett continued the clarion call for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis to be vaccinated.
“This science is clear. The best way to protect ourselves against the virus, and its variants, is to be fully vaccinated. Vaccine vaccines work. It’s free; it’s safe, it’s easy… Let us continue to come out in our numbers to be vaccinated against COVID-19,”
However, vaccination rates are showing a downward trend over the last three weeks.
The ending of August shows high numbers with 1,700 doses administered in a week. The following week the number went down to 500, then 300 the next week and 212 this week.
The 212 doses are all first doses.
Acceptance of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine also appears slow for 12 – 17-year-olds, with just under five percent of the health authorities target of 4,800 adolescents.
Second doses are static for now while the country is waiting for additional AstraZeneca vaccines and the passage of the 21-day interval for the Pfizer shots for the resumption of second doses.
