by Devonne Cornelius
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Mark Brantley says the government of St. Kitts and Nevis will be sourcing COVID-19 vaccines for children to be inoculated.
“We shall shortly be rolling out our plan to ensure that a significant number of our children can access vaccines against Covid-19 so that, like the majority of our adult population, so too a majority of our children can be protected,” Brantley said in a Facebook post on Tuesday (August 10).
“Our government continues to be guided by science and is resolute that we cannot and we shall not leave our children exposed to the ravages of this dreaded disease,” Brantley said.
Brantley who also serves as Nevis’ Premier and Senior Minister of Health told journalists in April of this year that the government began engaging with the developers of the Pfizer BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine.
“We have engaged with Pfizer. The cabinet at the federal level asked me to assist in diplomatic efforts to secure additional doses of the vaccine.”
St. Kitts and Nevis is currently administering the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, approved by the World Health Organization, to people aged 18 to 80. With a target population of 33,037, a total of 20,000 people have been fully vaccinated as of August 10, 2021.
According to an official statement sent to the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), Washington said the six CARICOM countries to receive the first shipment of the vaccines are Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts-Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
It said that Trinidad and Tobago will receive 305,370 dozes of the Pfizer vaccine, Bahamas, 397,000, Antigua and Barbuda 17,550, Barbados, 70,200, St Kitts and Nevis, 11,700 and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 35,100.
“We have been working to get as many safe and effective vaccines to as many people around the world as fast as possible. Thanks to the ingenuity of American scientists and the resilience and commitment of the American people, we’re in a position to help others,” President Joe Biden said.
