WASHINGTON – Barbados is among six Caribbean nations that will receive doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine through an arrangement with the United States government and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).
The Caribbean Media Corporation is reporting Barbados will get 70 200 doses out of 836 000, the remainder to be distributed to Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
According to the Barbados Government Information Service, acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw will receive the shipment on Friday at the Grantley Adams International Airport.
The United States on Wednesday announced it was part of its commitment to provide “safe and effective vaccines to as many people around the world as fast as possible”
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.
Regarding the CARICOM, Washington said that its initial donation of doses to member states involved significant legal and logistic complexity, and through close partnership with CARPHA and the company (Pfizer), it crafted a legal and operational framework to move these doses.
“Alerted to a constrained supply chain for the specialized syringes required for Pfizer administration, the USG team also arranged for an initial start-up donation of ancillary kits to support 4.5 million of the 5.5 million donated doses. With CARPHA, PAHO arranged for additional syringes for the remaining doses and additional doses. Our CDC experts also worked with CARPHA to allocate doses based on their joint understanding of absorptive capacity,” it added.
The White House said that the vaccines are being shared “to save lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic.
“We are sharing these doses not to secure favours or extract concessions. Our vaccines do not come with strings attached. We are doing this with the singular objective of saving lives,” the White House said, quoting President Biden as saying that “the United States will be the world’s arsenal of vaccines in our shared fight against this virus”.
Washington has also announced that United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing more than US$28 million to help 14 Caribbean countries fight COVID-19 and address its impacts, including US$1.5 million to support vaccine distribution.
It said additional funding, including for vaccine distribution, will be announced soon.
The countries that have benefitted from that funding include Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. (CMC/SAT)
