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Gonsalves urge Vincentians to take COVID jab

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves is encouraging Vincentians to get vaccinated against COVID-19 once vaccines become available.

"If they don't want to take it, nobody [is] going [to] force them. Nobody's forcing anybody to take the vaccine. It's a voluntary programme. But on the basis of the science which is available, it is wise; it is sensible to take the vaccine, both in relation to what is reported in the science," the St Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister said.

Gonsalves and his wife, Eloise, received the Russian-developed Sputnik vaccine last Tuesday.

"Persons have been taking vaccines for polio. People have been taking vaccines for yellow fever. It's either we're going to believe in superstition [or] we are going to believe in the science. Everybody knows, or in my view, every reasonable person knows ... that if you didn't have vaccines, people's lifespan would have been much shorter," he said.

"This is another vaccine and it's a vaccine for a virus, which is not an automatic death sentence. It's a killer, to be sure, but we see the persons who have died here in St Vincent and Grenadines are those with severe co-morbidities."

Prime Minister Gonsalves appealed to "the ordinary man and woman in St Vincent and the Grenadines, people who have a reasonable temper" to follow his lead, but said those who felt very strongly about not taking the vaccine did not have to.

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St Kitts and Nevis plan mass vaccination programme

The twin-island federation of St Kitts and Nevis is finalising the roll-out of its mass COVID-19 vaccination programme, now that it has received its first batch of vaccines and is expecting more than 21,000 more doses by month end, a statement from the government said.

It is anticipated that front-line workers will be vaccinated first, followed by vulnerable persons - those suffering from multiple morbidities and other chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.

Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris said a plan is in place to vaccine front-line workers and the rest of the population.

St Kitts and Nevis received its first 2,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines last week, and by the end of this month it is expected to receive an additional 21,600 doses as a result of its participation in the COVID-19 Global Access (COVAX) Facility.

Additionally, Taiwan has pledged $600,000 to assist in procuring extra vaccines, while the government of India and other allies have expressed their willingness to donate vaccines.

"These additional donations from multiple sources will enhance our ability to roll out our mass vaccination programme," said Prime Minister Harris.

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BARBADOS REMAINS IN LOCKDOWN

Barbadians will now remain on lockdown until the end of the month, Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced on Monday, as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to climb.

The country will now continue its daily curfews, which starts at 7 p.m. and goes to 6 a.m. the next morning. Minimarts and supermarkets will be closed on weekends.

Prime Minister Mottley's announcement followed the death of a nursing assistant on Sunday as a result of COVID-19.

"If this young woman's life is not to be in vain, her death must share two lessons with the rest of this country. Those lessons are: 1) that COVID is no respecter of age of persons and all of us must take it seriously; 2) that we in this country owe a responsibility to each other, to our communities, to our families to be more thoughtful, caring and protective of each other and to follow the health and safety protocols, or we will be placing not only ourselves, but someone else in harm's way," the country's health minister, Jeffrey Bostic, said.

The nursing assistant's death brings to 25 the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 since the first case was detected in Barbados last March.