Over 175,000 vaccines will be distributed to St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua & Barbuda, and Suriname.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne on Monday welcomed the arrival of over 175,000 COVID-19 vaccines as part of a donation made by India’s government to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Suriname.
The donation includes doses for St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. The vaccines arrived on a charter flight from Mumbai.
Antigua and Barbuda is set to receive 40,000 doses, 5,000 of which will be donated to Grenada.
Information Minister Melford Nicholas noted that 20,000 additional COVID-19 vaccines were secured through the COVAX mechanism.
Developed by the British Oxford-Astrazeneca lab, the COVISHILED vaccine is manufactured by the Indian Serum Institute which is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer.
On Saturday, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines for Barbados and countries in the Eastern Caribbean, which will represent a population vaccination coverage of 16 to 20 percent by the end of March.
“These 40,000 vaccines for Antigua and Barbuda will meet the immediate requirements of vaccinating the front-line workers, health care workers, and people with underlying health conditions,” Indian High Commissioner KJ Srinivasan said.
