In deference to an earlier plea made by PM Roosevelt Skerrit, the government of India has gifted 35,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to Dominica. The donation will be sufficient to vaccinate half the population of Dominica and another 20,000 doses are expected from the government of China. Meanwhile, PAHO has promised to also supply coronavirus vaccines to 20% of the population of Dominica.
PM Skerrit said the donation from India and the expected 20% from PAHO will be adequate to vaccinate 70% of the population, while the 20,000 doses expected from the Chinese government will bring the total number of people to be vaccinated to about 90% of the population of the country. Skerrit called the donation from India an “extradinary gift”.
“So 35,000 people can be vaccinated in Dominica as a result of a gift from the Government of India,” he said. “We really want to thank Prime Minister Modi and the Government and the people of India for this extraordinary gift. God willing, we should receive the vaccines in Dominica this week and the Ministry of Health will be informing the nation from tomorrow [Monday, February 8] about the vaccines and the rollout of the vaccination plan.”
Skerrit said the health ministry will announce the vaccination plan within the week and the first categories of people to be vaccinated will be announced. He stated that 35,000 people could be vaccinated before the end of this month. Apart from this, media practitioners will also be able to confer with health officials about the COVID-19 vaccines so that the public can be properly informed about the benefits of the vaccines.
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