Official says procurement process almost complete

Covid-19 vaccines should soon be available in Barbados for children aged five to 11.

Co-coordinator of the National Vaccination Programme, Major David Clarke today revealed that plans were at an advanced stage to procure the vaccines.

“I can also say that we have been pursuing the vaccines for the five to 11s and so we are hoping to get some of those vaccines and once we get those vaccines we will also be rolling out the programme for the five to 11.

“We are presently working on it. It is at the paperwork stage so once the paperwork is completed and we are satisfied that what we are getting is exactly what we want then you’ll hear it, but not too much longer,” Major Clarke said this afternoon during a Zoom meeting hosted by the Rotary Club of Barbados.

Additionally, he said 56.7 per cent of children aged 12 to 18 have been vaccinated.

He however, admitted that due to examinations vaccinations for that age group had been temporarily suspended to avoid any impact on the performance of those students.

Major Clarke said while there was a lull in the number of persons coming forward to be vaccinated, boosters were still popular.

He said around 71 per cent of the eligible population or 57 per cent of the overall population had so far been vaccinated.

Major Clarke said that figure could be even higher as “quite a number” of Barbadians had been vaccinated overseas. He said those persons were not counted in the local numbers.

“We’ve done just over 50, 000 booster shots and probably around 2000 people who have had their second booster. The booster shots at present seem to be the most number of people coming into the system but we are still getting one or two first doses and that’s going very slowly,” he pointed out.

Major Clarke said AstraZeneca and Pfizer had been the two most popular vaccines in Barbados.

He said the uptake for Sinopharm was “very small” with only 5000 doses being administered. He said that particular vaccine was not recognized by either the United States or Canada. Similarly, only 600 people had opted to take the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

He said some countries also required that visitors be up to date with their booster shots.

“There are some countries that if your vaccine is older than six months they ask you to get another booster, so if you go to a restaurant in Italy at present and your vaccine is older than six months they don’t want to accept you to the restaurant. So what they are saying is you really need to have a booster every six months,” he explained.

Major Clarke said they were currently awaiting permission to send booster certificates with a QR code.

He said because of the large numbers of people who had contracted COVID-19 he believed the herd immunity factor “has been a little better” than people realize.

He said the National Vaccination Programme was scheduled to end this year at which time it would be handed over to public health and the facilities would be closed.

Major Clarke said it would then become a normal polyclinic operation.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb