by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Officials launched a final push Wednesday (June 30) to distribute the AstraZeneca vaccines in stock, which were to expire June 30, 2021.
The government, according to the NEOC briefings, managed to secure 43,600 Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines. We received 2,000 from Dominica on February 11, 20, 000 from India on March 1 and from the COVAX facility, 21,600 on April 7, 2021. The government donated 2,000 to Grenada, and kept 41,600 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for local use.
As of Tuesday, June 29, vaccination numbers stood at 40,615 doses administered; 22,831 first doses and 17,784-second doses leaving just under 1,000 doses left to be administered on Wednesday.
The effort to utilize all vaccines in hand led to decisions to open Health Centers, for the sole purpose of facilitating the administering of the vaccine during the 24-hour lockdown now in effect on St. Kitts.
So what was the vaccine situation at the close of the health centers on Wednesday?
According to the infographic shared by the St. Kitts Health Promotion Unit on Wednesday, June 30, vaccination numbers stood at 41,850 doses administered; 22,937-first doses and 18,913-second doses administered.
Where did the extra 250 doses come from?
When asked about whether or not the doses were new or already in hand, Medical Chief of Staff for the Joseph N France General Hospital, Dr. Cameron Wilkinson did not directly address the question but stated:, “We finished this batch and hopefully we will get some others to continue the vaccinations programme… we continue to tell [people] that we will leave no stone unturned and we will make sure that we continue our vaccination programme.”
He made those remarks during the July 1 broadcast of Island Tea, Hosted by Azem Bailey and Kevon Hanley.
In a Facebook post, Dr. Wilkinson on Thursday wrote, “We had a batch of Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine with a minimum of 41,600 doses to be delivered into the arms of our citizens and residents. Every dose had to be delivered on or before June 30th or be discarded or given away… Yesterday June 30th saw us reaching 69.4 percent of adults with one shot and 57.2 percent adults are now fully vaccinated. We delivered 41,850 doses into the arms of 22937 citizens and residents.”
