President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Verla De Peiza said government had to explain further its involvement in a deal with a regional company to procure vaccines for the country.
De Peiza said the explanation by Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw on Wednesday rang hollow and it was not enough to state that no taxpayer money was spent.
“The press conference (by Bradshaw) throws up a lot more questions than it provides answers,” De Peiza said at a news conference on Thursday.
“The entire situation sounds very different from what we were told back in March and April, when we were told of a group of businessmen, who were forming a company in order to receive donations, and this was a philanthropic exercise. That is how it was sold to the people of Barbados.”
“What we are seeing coming out has a profit motive and we, therefore, need to have explained what the true nature of the contract or agreement was.”
De Peiza said that based on a court document filed in the United States by the regional company, it appeared that the plaintiff would be paying around US $10 a vaccine, even though the manufacturer, Oxford AstraZeneca publicly stated that they were dealing directly with only governments or through high commissions and that their price was US$3 a dose.
