‘Choice of three vaccines’, says PM

With the arrival here of 33,600 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has informed Barbadians that they now have a choice of three jabs.

As the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) handed over the vaccines to the Government in an airport ceremony, Prime Minister Mottley said just under 2 300 people received shots on Monday, declaring that Barbadians are voting with their feet on the vaccines.

This week began the public rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with a gift from the United States. Since February, beginning with a donation of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield from India, followed by purchases through the global COVAX and African Gavi initiatives, the leading jab used here has been the AstraZeneca.

Barbados has also received a donation of China-made Sinopharm jabs from Beijing.

Mottley said: “I promised last week that in the absence of mandating, that I will take the time to start talking with as many groups as possible. I started yesterday, I leave here today to go to that. There is no media because this is a talk. This is not a media moment, this is a moment of life, learning and progress.

“We come here today in the spirit of partnership because it is through the partnership of Gavi and COVAX and individual countries across the world, that we have begun to make a dent in this battle against COVID. We know that the vaccines are one of the most critical components in battle and we don’t go to battle armless and without any capacity to fight. We go to battle having prepared ourselves to fight.”

The Prime Minister stressed that while Barbados has been receiving assistance from the international community with its COVID-19 fight, Government needs Barbadians to play their role.

Mottley said she was not prepared to dismiss persons who want to engage in conversations regarding the vaccines. She added that on every occasion members of the public are engaged in conversations regarding the vaccines, they are also reminded of what else they are required to do to help fight the battle.

She said: “We now face the prospect of a variant. From the very beginning as we stood here in this location, we spoke about the race against the variants. It is no longer a prospect; it is a reality.

“And the only way we are going to ensure that we don’t have to fight variants more virulent and more contagious, and more deadly than Delta and others, is if we are able to have the equitable access to vaccines as a matter of urgency – from Africa, to Latin America, to Asia, to the Caribbean, to every part of this globe.”

PAHO and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Representative to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Dr Yitades Gebre, said PAHO, as the region’s vaccine procurement agent for COVAX Facility, delivered the 33 600 doses of AstraZeneca Vaxzevria, which is the third and final installment of the second-round allocation by the COVAX Facility originally targeted for June and July. This brings the total of 100 800 doses procured for the Ministry of Health.

Dr Gebre acknowledged the US, Britain and Japan for their continued support to the COVAX Facility.

Prime Minister Mottley also announced that African Swine Flu which has decimated animals and livestock in elsewhere in the world, is now in the region.

She said this means that Barbados has to take proactive measures.

Mottley indicated that she has asked Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Indar Weir to have a conversation with the nation. (AH)